David Engel

Senior Analyst, Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI)

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Explaining Indonesia’s lopsided treatment of its two ‘strategic partners’ – Australia and China

Indonesia analyst David Engel asks whether Jakarta is exercising double standards in its cool reception of AUKUS.

The exorbitant price of Trump’s attempt to secure Indonesian recognition of Israel

In the final days of the Trump Administration, the US has offered to increase development spending to Indonesia in return for Jakarta recognising Israel. But, as regional analyst David Engel writes, the incoming Biden Administration can learn lessons from such a transactional offer. With Indonesia asked to abandon its longstanding principles, such a proposal is politically inept and will likely end in failure.

How the Biden administration should manage US–Indonesia relations

Of all the countries that the new US administration might wish to nudge its way as it tackles the implications of Beijing’s power and ambitions, very few matter more strategically than Indonesia. Yet, as David Engel of ASPI writes, such are the obstacles to achieving this in the prevailing circumstances that Joe Biden should think twice about trying.