https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2023/06/16/indonesia-vanuatu-pledge-closer-ties.html
Indonesia, Vanuatu pledge closer ties
Yvette Tanamal (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta ● Sat, June 17, 2023
In a move seen as a bid to build a bridge over the troubled waters of the past, Vanuatu Foreign Minister Jotham Napat on Friday met with his Indonesian counterpart Retno LP Marsudi, becoming the first top envoy from Port Vila to visit Jakarta in over 10 years. During the visit, Vanuatu announced plans to open an embassy in Jakarta and to hold annual bilateral meetings with Indonesia.
In addition, the two ministers pledged to strengthen cooperation in trade and development, which experts pointed out were part of Indonesia’s larger strategy for the Indo-Pacific region.
Vanuatu, which is part of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), has established itself as an outspoken country supporting human rights in Papua. It has exchanged barbs with Jakarta on numerous occasions at international forums, including the United Nations General Assembly in 2020 and 2021, over reported violations in Indonesia’s easternmost province.
Yet Port Vila has been gradually opening up to Jakarta in recent years, an improvement that analysts have credited to Indonesia’s continuing diplomacy to appease some Pacific Island nations as tensions sharpen due to increasing geopolitical competition in the region.
Speaking after a closed-door meeting with Napat, Retno said the meeting was “an important milestone” for both countries, and noted several crucial commitments that Vanuatu and Indonesia shared. “Being a Pacific country ourselves, we share many of the same challenges, [including] climate change, natural disasters [and] maritime issues. This is why we have the Pacific Elevation, so we can address our challenges as one big family,” Retno said. Launched in 2019, the Pacific Elevation program is Indonesia’s strategy to engage more closely with Pacific Island nations, primarily by spurring economic development and promoting public welfare. Napat said meanwhile that his visit was part of the “Melanesian way” of diplomacy, which he described as one based on dialogue. Addressing plans to hold more regular meetings with his Indonesian counterpart, Napat said that he was looking forward to discussing the “issues” and “interests” the two countries shared. “Indonesia is currently in a very strategic location, handling the issues of ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific.
I believe that this bilateral diplomatic relationship will move the two countries forward,” he said. The Indo-Pacific has increasingly been described as a primary theater of the geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, which has not spared the smaller Pacific Islands, including Vanuatu.
Vanuatu last week signed a security agreement with Australia and is pushing its parliament to ratify the pact. In doing so, it has become the latest Pacific Island nation to align with a larger military power, after Papua New Guinea signed a defense pact with the US last month and the Solomon Islands inked a deal with China last year. Indonesia, widely considered as ASEAN’s natural leader and which is seeking to establish its primacy in the greater region, has been intensifying its engagement with Pacific Island nations over the last few years.
During its Group of Twenty (G20) presidency last year, Jakarta invited representatives from the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) to attend the forum’s meetings.
“Let us continue working together. Strong like a garuda, noble like a Vanuatuan warrior,” Retno said, referring to the mythical bird that appears on the national emblem. Beyond disagreements Experts noted that the apparent improvement in Indonesia and Vanuatu’s diplomatic ties was a testament to Jakarta’s unceasing efforts to align itself closer with Pacific Island nations, despite the occasional rough patches due to the multifaceted issues in Papua.
“On the one hand, their increased openness could be interpreted as a response to China’s growing influence in the Pacific Islands. Vanuatu has recently aligned itself closer with Canberra under [Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s] leadership because of [their] shared concern regarding climate change,” said Ahmad Rizky M. Umar, an expert on international relations at the University of Queensland. “On the other hand, Indonesia has always been consistent with its diplomatic efforts.
Sure, they would fight at the UN sometimes, but behind the scenes, these diplomatic efforts have never ceased. Indonesia has always continued to assist Vanuatu,” he added. Umar pointed to one example of Jakarta’s continued assistance as the humanitarian relief it provided to Port Vila following the category 4 cyclones Judy and Kevin in early April, which affected more than 251,000 Vanuatuans. Napat expressed his “deep appreciation” for this assistance in his statement on Friday. “By the generosity of your people, you managed to step in. That will never go unnoticed,” he said. As Vanuatu is deemed one of the most outspoken Pacific Island countries, frequently setting the region’s agenda in international forums, it is also crucial for Jakarta to maintain a high level of amity with Port Vila in seeking a larger role in the Indo-Pacific.
“Vanuatu and the other Pacific Islands may be small in size, but they are united at the UN level. Many of them are also closely aligned with Western powers, so a closer friendship is a great strategy,” Dafri Agussalim, executive director of the ASEAN Studies Center at Gadjah Mada University, told The Jakarta Post on Friday. Umar and Dafri were both of the view, however, that closer ties were unlikely to translate into
