From Taipei Times:
The first thing to say about the security agreement between Indonesia and India being implemented is that it is indicative of the amount of work that has gone into it. In the process, the two countries have developed a close relationship that borders on a security pact, without the formal trappings.
The agreement comes soon after the “New Strategic Partnership” declaration signed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
……In the last decade or so, China has come to loom so large in the region that Asia’s existing structures like ASEAN seem to have lost their countervailing role. Indeed, countries in the region are adjusting and adapting to China’s “great power” role.
It is not so much the display of China’s military power — there for all to see with its growing defense budget, nuclear weapons and anti-missile technology with space war potential — but its creeping soft power by way of its economic strength. The regional perception of China’s power is preceding its reality.
…… `While smaller countries on China’s periphery might be inclined to accept what they believe to be the inevitability of China’s rise as the revived Middle Kingdom, Indonesia and India as major regional actors in their own right do not appear ready for it.’ [Full Text]
