US, China tensions a ‘threat to region’

SUSILO Bambang Yudhoyono has warned rivalry between the US and China risks destabilising the region.

Tony Abbott chats withSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono as they walk to a meeting at a resort on Batam Island last June. Picture: Ed Wray

OUTGOING Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has warned rivalry between the US and China, along with ­maritime territorial disputes ­between Beijing and Southeast Asian nations, risked destabilising the region.

Dr Yudhoyono, widely recognised as the most influential foreign policy figure in Southeast Asia, said what had been stable major-power relations were now possibly unravelling, as had ­occurred in the Ukraine conflict.

“The region cannot afford to see sharp deterioration of US-China relations,” the President said in an interview with The Weekend Australian at the Merdeka Palace presidential office in Jakarta.

Dr Yudhoyono, who will hand power to Joko Widodo on October 20 after completing the maximum two terms in office, also called for a new chapter in relations between his country and Australia, warning that a trust deficit was dangerous.

The President said all countries wanted to be friends of both the US and China.

“Economically the US and China are interdependent,” he said. “Many US business people want good relations with China. Politically, there is tension ­between the two biggest economies … There needs to be give and take. If these two big powers collide it will impact negatively in this region … East Asia and the South China Sea could be new flashpoints, they could destabilise the region.”

Dr Yudhoyono acknowledged that rivalry between the two powers was “unavoidable” but added that he hoped China and the US could “maintain their good friendship and contain their differing interests”.

The President said Indonesia did not take sides in disputes ­between China and the other ­nations around the South China Sea, “but we oppose gunboat ­diplomacy and the excessive use of the military”.

“Our concern is to make sure these disputes are addressed peacefully and do not erupt into armed conflict,” he said.

“We are seeing more brinkmanship on the ground; that is why the South China Sea is becoming more volatile than ever.”

He said Indonesia had questions about the “nine dashed lines” that China uses to define its claims in the South China Sea. ­Indonesian officials believe these lines cut across Indonesia’s ­exclusive economic zone north of Natuna Island. Dr Yudhoyono said he had been assured that Beijing did not claim any Indonesian territory.

As The Australian revealed this week, an agreement between Jakarta and Canberra on future intelligence relations has been agreed by both governments and will shortly be signed by the two ­nations’ foreign ministers and witnessed by the President.

This agreement will fully end all disputes arising out of revelations last year that in 2009 Australian intelligence agencies eavesdropped on the phones of the President, his wife and senior colleagues.

“Soon the two foreign ministers will sign the code of conduct,” the President said. “And with that I think we could normalise our ­relations in all fields.”

The President described as “wonderful” his last face-to-face meeting with Tony Abbott, in June on the Indonesian island of Batam. He said it was there that the two leaders “agreed to put the spy case behind us”.

Dr Yudhoyono, widely regarded as a very good friend of Australia, has been determined to clear up the dispute before he leaves office on October 20.

“Australia is among our most important relationships, and certainly a top priority for my administration earlier on,” he said,

Dr Yudhoyono said he ­believed there was scope for ­closer defence co-operation ­between Indonesia and Australia.

“Indonesia is not a threat to Australia and Australia is not a threat to Indonesia,” he said.

“We need to continuously bring home the message that Australia and Indonesia are ­partners.