The road to Indonesia’s nickel industrialisation runs through China

Written by Anoushka Singh

Without rewriting the terms on which capital and expertise enter the sector, Indonesia’s nickel future may continue to be shaped elsewhere, despite being mined at home.

Southeast Asia9DLMarch 11, 2026The road to Indonesia’s nickel industrialisation runs through China, Anoushka Singh, 9DASHLINE, Indonesia, China, nickel, downstreaming, critical minerals, nickel export ban, electric vehicles, economic sovereignty, resource governance, industrial sovereignty, Morowali Industrial Park, Weda Bay Industrial Park, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

Carney inaugurates 'global centrism': but how will the Indo-Pacific feature?

Written by Quay Say Jye and Connor O’Brien

The thorny question remains what lines are not worth crossing, and when normative and institutional guardrails may prove strategically beneficial over the long term, especially for small and middle powers.

Faultlines9DLMarch 6, 2026Carney inaugurates 'global centrism': but how will the Indo-Pacific feature?, Quay Say Jye, Connor O'Brien, 9DASHLINE, World Economic Forum, global centrism, value-based realism, Canada, US, China, Indonesia, ASEAN, Southeast Asia, Board of Peace, Mark Carney, great power politics

The grey-zone of interest: How China tests Indonesia’s South China Sea strategy

Written by Omar Rasya Joenoes

The challenge, therefore, is to transform ambiguity from a reactive posture into a deliberate and integrated strategy — one that manages asymmetry without allowing incremental pressure to redefine the strategic status quo.

Prabowo’s presidency: Meals, power, and China

Written by Nathaniel Schochet and Peyson Hunt

The MBG programme stands as both a policy initiative and a political symbol of the Prabowo administration: ambitious in scope, reinforced by the military, and directed by an executive willing to subordinate bureaucracy and norms in pursuit of their goals.

Youth-led protest movements across South and Southeast Asia seek a political reset

Written by Adhiraaj Anand

Deeper and more sustained transnational exchanges could foster new regional identities and solidarities between national protest movements, as well as increase their resilience and capacity for innovation.

ASEAN, Myanmar, and the crisis of regionalism: Between centrality and irrelevance

Written by Aniello Iannone

ASEAN’s future will not be determined by declarations or summit communiqués. It will hinge on whether the organisation can transcend the comfort of paralysis and confront the contradictions that sustain it.

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Balancing the peninsula: Indonesia’s diplomacy between the two Koreas

Written by Geo Dzakwan Arshali

Jakarta has never been aimless in its approach to the Koreas — it seeks to de-escalate tensions on the peninsula by keeping dialogue alive, even with an isolated Pyongyang, while simultaneously deepening cooperation with a democratic Seoul and its Western allies.

Beyond symbolism: Why Indonesia needs China expertise to match its ambition

Written by Dr Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat

Indonesia’s foreign service, though respected in ASEAN, has not fully kept pace with the demands of a world where China is central to trade, technology, and security. Without a cadre of China specialists embedded across government and academia, Jakarta risks responding to events rather than shaping them.

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Ratifying the Indonesia-Vietnam EEZ maritime delimitation agreement serves national and regional best interests

Written by Aristyo Rizka Darmawan and John Bradford

Ratification of the EEZ agreement provides a good opportunity for Indonesia to clarify its position by denying the validity of China’s Nine-Dash Line claim while simultaneously preserving its interests and advancing good relations with an important neighbour.

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Indonesia, France, and the logic of strategic autonomy

Written by Aniello Iannone

France now joins a growing list of Indonesia’s strategic partners. It was a strategic moment in which a major European state and a rising regional middle power found common ground in their shared search for autonomy.

Europe and the Indo-Pacific9DLJuly 11, 2025Aniello Iannone, 9DASHLINE, Indonesia, France, asean, Macron, ASEAN, Indonesia France and the logic of strategic autonomy, AUKUS, Horizon 2050, Drones, Rafale Jets, Indo-Pacific, India, Vietnam, South China Sea, Minilateralism

Indonesia in BRICS: New chapter or familiar story?

Written by Dominique Fraser and Dr Premesha Saha

Indonesia will need to ensure that it carefully balances its commitments to BRICS alongside its responsibilities and obligations within ASEAN and its existing relationships with Western nations like the US and the EU.

South Korea’s martial law moment: constitutional crisis, and the regional order

Written by Dr Seohee Park

This crisis represents more than a domestic Korean political drama; it tests the resilience of regional alliances and could accelerate broader geopolitical shifts in an increasingly complex Northeast Asian landscape.

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At the water’s hedge: Indonesia, insularity and China’s rise

Written by Dylan Motin

Indonesia appears relatively under-committed to power politics and continental affairs. It worries about China’s rise, but not to the extent of joining US-led containment efforts.

Southeast Asia9DLJuly 19, 2024Indonesia, hedging, Dylan Motin, 9DASHLINE, At the water’s hedge: Indonesia, insularity and China’s rise, Indo-Pacific

A new era dawns: Labour’s Indo-Pacific offer

Written by Sam Hogg

Labour has chosen to keep its Indo-Pacific cards close to its chest. Success for a future British government in the region will require dexterity and a robust understanding of what regional players want.

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Navigating Sinophobia amid Indonesia's economic ascent

Written by Dr Narayani Sritharan and Peter Rizkillah

Sinophobia in Indonesia is not merely a by-product of the BRI but a consequence of economic ambition intersecting with security concerns in a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape.

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Strongman politics are returning to Southeast Asia

Written by Chris Fitzgerald

Their return represents and legitimises a darker time of dictators, corruption and atrocities, which many older Indonesians and Filipinos hoped was history. It is undoubtedly a step back and suggests strongmen are now the norm, not the exception.

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South Korea's midterm election tests democratic resilience

Written by Dr Hannes B. Mosler

The short-term challenge of this election is to prevent a conservative majority in parliament, lest the current autocratic episode in South Korean democracy turn into a post-democratic vortex.

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Intersectionality as the key to Indo-Pacific climate action

Written by Treesa Shaju and Dr Dhanasree Jayaram

Taking an intersectional approach to climate change recognises the interconnected and interwoven nature of social, economic, ecological, political, and cultural issues in the formulation of climate change policies and strategies.

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