Foreign Policy Talks

2022 is going to be a very important year for Indonesia, as the nation will lead the G20 forum. As the G20 President, Indonesia has prepared numerous important agendas, mainly on economic and finance sphere. In this episode, I talked to Dr. Wempi Saputra, G20 Finance Deputy and Indonesia’s Assistant Minister of Finance. We conversed on the concrete proposals raised by Indonesia through G20 finance...

Listen to my conversations with Ambassador Siti Nugraha Mauludiah, Advisor to Indonesia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on Socio-culture and Diaspora. We discussed about the definition of Indonesian diaspora, the government’s strategy to manage them and the role that diaspora can play as the agents of Indonesia’s economic diplomacy. Some new initiatives to manage Indonesian diaspora as the national...

Our world is now facing multiple crisis and there has been a lot of criticisms towards the effectiveness of our multilateral platform to respond the crisis. Hear my conversations with Sundeep Waslekar, President of Strategic Foresight Group who recently wrote an essay on  his thoughts about global governance that published in the New England Journal of Public Policy. You can find it by Googli...

I am talking to Adam Gadd, a Research Associate at Swedish Defence University who recently wrote an article at The Diplomat on why South Korea fell behind Japan in Southeast Asia. This episode gives you more discussion on things made Japan is more trusted as security partner for countries in the region and particularly explore how has the relationships with Japan and South Korea influenced the Sou...

This episode is talking about the present challenges and future opportunities of Indonesia-Norway bilateral partnerships, particularly amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic. Moreover, Ambassador Rut Krüger Giverin, Ambassador of Norway to Indonesia shared the similar values that both states have in common and the biggest lessons that Norway learned from the pandemic. We continued the conversation on Norway...

Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) is recently conducting the ASEAN-China Survey 2021. The year 2021 is a special year for ASEAN and China as they commemorate the 30th anniversary of ASEAN China – Dialogue Relations that was established in 1991. In light of this, FPCI recognizes the importance of continuing the study. The survey is titled “ASEAN – China Survey 2021: Assessing Three Decad...

The COP-26 Summit in Glasgow finally ended with a climate pact with a set of carbon market rules associated to Article 6 of Paris Agreement. At the last stage of the COP-26 negotiation, India backed by China and other major coal-producing nations proposed a revision to change “phased out” into “phased down” of coal use in the documents. Thus, the COP-26 received a variety of responses including di...

G20 was concluded last week in Rome, Italy with a 20-page declaration. So many areas covered and agreed in the declaration. This episode covers the priorities and policy stances of Indonesia at the G20 Summit and what does it mean for Indonesia’s G20 Presidency next year. Were there any implications of the China’s Xi Jin Ping and Russia’s Putin absence from the G20 summit? To talk about this, I am...

In this episode, I talked to Phuong Vu, a Phd Candidate on Politics at the University of Otago in New Zealand about Vietnam’s debt burden to China and its political risks. An interesting fact, Vietnam has long been suspicious of the BRI and to date no new infrastructure project in Vietnam has been officially labelled as part of the BRI in the public domain. Why is it so? Against those risks, why d...

In this episode, I talked to Mong Palatino, an activist, blogger and politician from the Philippines. Mong served for two terms in the House of Representatives in the Philippines representing the youth sector. Mong is also a regular blogger and Global Voices regional editor for Southeast Asia and Oceania also an active contributor for the Diplomat. We discussed aboutRodrigo Duterte’s recent speech...

Fumio Kishida has won a race to lead Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), putting him on course to become the next prime minister. He won against the high-profile Minister Taro Kono and also Sanae Takaichi. Mr Kishida will succeed Yoshihide Suga, who decided to step down after just one year in office. In this episode, I talked with Professor Kotaro Tamura, Former Senator and Parliamentar...

China has submitted a formal letter of application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP. I asked Dr. Deborah Elms, the Founder and Executive Director of the Asian Trade Centre and Vice Chair of the Asia Business Trade Association (ABTA) on the possibility of current members of the CPTPP agree to allow China joining the group. I also discussed with her about...

I spoke to Mutti Anggitta, a security analyst and nuclear specialist at the Laboratorium Indonesia 2045 on AUKUS and Indonesia’s position towards the security pact. We explored from the strategic views on Indonesia’s readiness to this possible security risk and the ideal stance Indonesia must have in the middle of intensifying China-Western allies military tension. Enjoy the conversation!

In this episode, I spoke to Natalie Sambhi, the Founder and Executive Director of Verve Research, and Non-Resident Fellow at Brookings. We talked about the most concerning aspects of the AUKUS as a security deal to Jakarta and the possible implication of AUKUS such as a more intense “strategic insecurity” with countries in the region, particularly with China. Are we going to see China retaliate wi...

In this episode, I was speaking with Dr. Barbara Yoxon, Lecturer in International Politics at the Lancaster University on the recent AUKUS security alliance between the United States, United Kingdom and Australia. what are the key objectives of this AUKUS? And why does the pact provides the nuclear-powered submarines to Australia? Will it create more intense“security dilemma”, particularly with Ch...

I discussed with Aristyo Rizka Darmawan, a Lecturer of International Law at the University of Indonesia. He just wrote an article on the role of social media on Indonesia’s foreign policy. I asked him about that article, particularly on the impact of democratization in Indonesia to its foreign policy, the importance of public awareness on foreign policy and the possible negative consequences of so...

In this episode, I conversed with Dr. Siwage Dharma Negara, the Senior Fellow and Co-coordinator of Indonesia Studies Programme at ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute. We discussed how has the COVID-19 pandemic affects Indonesia-China relationships. Apart from that, we deeply talked about Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) cooperation and how does President Jokowi and his administration deal with the straini...

In this episode, I talked to Sebastian Strangio, Southeast Asia editor of The Diplomat and author of “In the Dragon’s Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century” book. We were trying to assess the Southeast Asia-China relationship by linking the COVID-19 pandemic with the current behaviors of ASEAN states towards China. Some questions raised during the interview such as whether Sebastian see an...

In this episode, I talked to three Indonesian delegation to the Y20 (Youth 20) Summit Italy 2021. They are Angelo Wijaya, Consultant at World Bank, Caroline Dea, a Lecturer at University of Sam Ratulangi and Co-founder of Sulut Semangat and Puteri Anetta Komarudin, a member of the People's Representative Council (DPR). They are part of the Indonesian Youth Diplomacy (IYD).  We explored their parti...

Happy to talk with Nadhila Renaldi, a graduate from London School of Economics and Political Science and Chevening Scholar who is keen to share her views on the current Indonesia- United Kingdom cooperation. Apart from that, she was sharing the benefits of studying in the United Kingdom university or academic institution. Nadhila with the Indonesian Students Association in the UK supported by the...

As the strategic contest between China and the United States remain influencing the state of geopolitical dynamic, many region is affected including Southeast Asia. Scholars argue that ASEAN will be the ultimate “winner” not Washington and not Beijing—as ASEAN states will apply “strategic hedging,” with a non-alignment position. Yet, some other authors view that ASEAN states have been trapped in t...

Recently, our world is seeing two critical summits, the G7 Summit hosted by Cornwall in the United Kingdom and Putin-Biden Summit in Geneva. Talking about the G7 Summit, what does the G7 Summit mean to world diplomacy? Is it simply the sign of G7 forum resilience or, more than that, a renewed commitment of democratic nations to reinvigorate the liberal world order? What are the major threats perce...

I interviewed Dr. Siswo Pramono, Director General/Head of the Policy Analysis and Development  Agency (PADA) at the Indonesia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA). to discuss the impacts of the global COVID-19 crisis on Indonesia’s foreign policy.  As the centre for the gravity of geopolitics and the geopolitical map has been shifted to Asia, also accelerated by this pandemic, Indonesia...

In this episode, I talked to Rocky Intan, a Researcher at the Department of International Relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta. We discussed about one of Indonesia’s foreign policy priorities, economic diplomacy. Rocky wrote in 2019 that Indonesia needs to recalibrate its conception of economic diplomacy, does he still think the same way? Moreover, what P...

In this episode, I am speaking to Kyaw Zaw Lin, the President of UNITE 30 Myanmar who is now based in Yangon. He shared to me the realistic situation in Myanmar and his honest views on the chance of protestors to overthrow the military junta. As Southeast Asian nations are set to discuss Myanmar's governance crisis at a summit in Jakarta on Saturday 24 April, Lin stated his hopes to the regional i...