Official 🇮🇩 Navy statement on recent exercise with 🇨🇳 around east of Taiwan 👇🏻 * KRI I Gusti Ngurah Rai was on its way back from Vladivostok conducted passing exercise with countries on its route * passing exercise is not war fighting in nature but as part of universal naval tradition * the exercise is a goodwill engagement as a form of naval brotherhood and diplomacy * free and active foreign policy gives beneficial cooperative opportunities with any country including passex My own take: • exercise partner was not mentioned or the location. The shockwaves we’ve seen (see ex: thejakartapost.com/world/202… are obv not due of form (passex) but where (location) and with whom (partner). Also not mentioned is Japan, where the ship spent time in between.  • There is no specific policy rupture, change or new direction from Jakarta. By which I mean, no, the TNI is *not* getting ready to join a future military operation or blockade of Taiwan in any shape or form.  • one form of military exercise maybe seen by one side as standard  practice and even bare minimum in operational complexity, but it could presented by the other side as something more strategic and will be perceived by others still as even threatening. Exercises cannot be seen in an operational or tactical vacuum. Strategic context will always cast a long shadow over any military behaviour. Wishing strategic context away never works.   • Major “asks” from regional and major powers to Indonesia have always and will continue to take place. The challenge is how Jakarta consider them and the extent to which the answer/response is measured and strategically and systematically worked out by the appropriate policy ecosystem.  • Regardless of thought and decision making process, any behaviour by Indonesia, esp in defence and diplomatic realm, will carry significant ripple effects and strategic consequences, for better or for worse.  • strategic policy making in times of competitive pressures is extremely difficult in the best times. One cannot please everyone nor can one afford to annoy everyone all at once over everything. Resources are finite, partners come and go, and single-vector threats are luxuries. Free and active policy needs to be systematic and purposeful, not free-wheeling

“Why did these sanctions prove so much more effective than prior efforts? Partly because Beijing has been improving its toolkit, building a legal regime to cut strategic exports and improve knowledge of trade partners’ pain points.” ft.com/content/77eabb2b-e422…