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Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States (USA) granted a visa to the Indonesian Defense Minister, Prabowo Subianto. This is surprising after 20 years of Prabowo being blacklisted.
Penatgon, through United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, even invited Prabowo to Uncle Sam’s country. Prabowo planned to leave for the United States on October 15.
But there seems to be a special reason why this happened. Citing several cited observers from the South China Morning Post, this happened because the United States did not want Indonesia to be too close to China. Especially now that the two countries are struggling to influence, especially as it relates to the South China Sea (SCS).
Alex Arifianto, a researcher at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University, said balancing China’s influence was important to the United States. “To ensure that Indonesia does not stray too far from the Chinese side,” he was quoted as saying by SCMP on Saturday (10/10/2020).
In addition, China has significantly increased its military and economic investment, particularly in infrastructure and mining, in Indonesia since taking office. [Presiden Joko Widodo] took office in 2014. Not to mention the administration of US President Donald Trump, which sees itself as less involved with Indonesia and Asian countries, in contrast to the Obama administration.
“The meeting will be an opportunity for Washington to show that they are still interested in the allies of Southeast Asia, even if it is more bilateral than multilateral,” he said.
Another fact was also revealed by Arifianto. This, he said, related to the modernization of the Indonesian army.
“The Indonesian military is conducting a large-scale military modernization program to replace aging defense infrastructure, including aircraft, ships, tanks and weapons technology,” he said.
In recent months, Prabowo has expressed interest in acquiring 15 second-hand Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from Austria, F-16 Viper from the United States and Rafale fighter jets from France. Last July, Russia said the deal to sell 11 Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets to Indonesia for $ 1.14 billion was still ongoing.
Meanwhile, still quoted by SCMP, an observer from the National War College in Washington, Zachary Abuza, said that in addition to granting visas, the victory of Prabowo of the United States was a victory. He said it was clear that the United States was waiving sanctions for the sake of bilateral relations.
Indonesia actually says “not aligned” and does not want to have a conflict with the United States and China. However, he said, Indonesia is in fact tougher on China because Beijing is boosting the Indonesian economy and helping to manage Covid.
Previously, according to the American media outlet The Politicio, the United States decided to grant Prabowo a visa as a condition for entering Uncle Sam’s country. This was also confirmed by Prabowo’s spokesman, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak.
This is related to the Pentagon’s invitation from US Defense Minister Mark Esper on October 15-19. “This invitation is to continue detailed discussions related to bilateral cooperation in the defense sector,” he said at a press conference hosted by CNBC Indonesia.
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