Pandemi Covid-19 telah mengubah perspektif pemerintah maupun pelaku industri dalam berbagai aspek, terutama dalam menjamin ketahanan kesehatan publik, pembangunan ekonomi, dan stabilitas politik. Di bidang ekonomi, setidaknya ada dua implikasi yang harus dicermati dalam mengantisipasi perubahan akibat dampak pandemi. Pertama, pandemi ini telah mendorong evaluasi terhadap global supply chain yang selama ini terpusat di beberapa negara tertentu.
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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has given a series of speeches attacking China. His speeches present some new themes: they aim specifically at the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), they frame China as an ideological threat (constantly referring to “Communist China,” not just China) and they adopt a blanket (rather than a la carte) attack against China: on the coronavirus, trade, investment, technology, TikTok, the World Health Organization, the South China Sea, Chinese companies and students, democracy, human rights, climate change – the list goes on. It seems that for the Trump administration, it has become a taboo to say anything remotely positive about China. Indeed, as Pompeo stated, “securing our freedom from the CCP is the mission of our time and America is in a perfect position to lead.”
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I know many of us got this wrong in the past, but I am willing to bet my house that President Donald J. Trump is finished. Either by a small or large margin, the incumbent will lose the US elections in November. It will not be Joe Biden that will beat Trump: Donald Trump is the cause of his own demise. His unmistakable “authenticity”, an asset that distinguished him from his political competitors in the past, is now a liability. His notorious claim of invincibility – that he could “shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still get elected” – no longer holds weight today.
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Indonesia appreciated being comprehensively briefed on Australia’s recent defence strategic update before it was announced, says seasoned diplomat and politician Dr Dino Patti Djalal. The former deputy foreign minister, who now heads the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia think tank, told ASPI’s online ‘Strategic Vision 2020’ conference that the world was living in ‘a hot peace environment’ with relations among the major powers deteriorating and many potential flashpoints.
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The preferred policy response of every country threatened by COVID-19 seems to be a lockdown, or severely restricting movement (of people, goods and services) into and out of cities or countries. For now, this is undoubtedly the best way to slow down, contain and hopefully roll back the spread of the novel coronavirus within and between nations. But beating COVID-19 will require much more than a lockdowns, social distancing and travel bans. Even if China, South Korea and Japan succeed in scaling back the virus, that does not mean much if the rest of the world catches it.
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If you asked me which country Indonesia had grown closest to in the last five years, my answer would be: China. Indonesia has developed many “partnerships” with other countries — more than a dozen of them. Yet, no matter how you label them (“strategic”,”special, comprehensive”, “21st century” etc.), Indonesia’s partnership with China is perhaps the most substantial.
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The recent attack by a white supremacist in Christchurch, New Zealand, revealed to us what the most extreme form of Islamophobia can be. The terrorist had reportedly developed a burning hatred of the growing number of Muslims that he saw as “invading his land”. Analysts have pointed out that if this could happen (of all places) in New Zealand, it could happen anywhere. The rare attack was also a manifestation of the historic “Abrahamic” problem. Relations among the Abrahamic religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism remain fraught with negativity, tension and hostility. At times they do result in oppression, discrimination and persecution.
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The year 2019 is poised to be a critical episode for the Indo-Pacific. This is the year when ASEAN will attempt to form a common position on the Indo-Pacific, and before that, there will also be an East Asia Summit (EAS) foreign ministers conference in Jakarta in March. The Indo-Pacific, of course, is not a new concept. I would say that the EAS — created in 2005 and since 2011 has included the United States and Russia — is in itself a manifestation of Indo-Pacific thinking; let’s call it Indo Pacific 1.0.
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As United States President Donald Trump makes his way across Asia, he will see lots of smiling faces from Asian leaders and citizens who, unlike his domestic constituents, find him somewhat amusing. Actually, Trump should pay attention to an important perceptual shift in Asia. A recent poll by Perth USAsia Center showed that most respondents in Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India for the first time see China as the most influential country in Asia, overtaking the US.
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