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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has brought a full-court press of frontbenchers and a bevy of high-powered business leaders on his first prime ministerial visit to Indonesia, as his government seeks to reboot Australia's relationships in the region amid heightened anxiety over China's rapid rise.
- Mr Albanese has chosen Jakarta as the destination for his first official bilateral trip
- The government has inherited a solid relationship from the Coalition
- Indonesia is yet to crack Australia's list of top 10 trading partners
In choosing Jakarta as the destination for his first official bilateral trip, Mr Albanese is following a familiar flight path to his predecessors and making the same statement about Australia's hierarchy of foreign relations.
Whether he takes to the subtle arts of statesmanship and regional diplomacy, is just one of the many tests Mr Albanese is about to be marked on.
The Prime Minister had an early taste, flying to Tokyo for the Quad Summit within hours of being sworn in.
In Jakarta, he will be joined by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Trade Minister Don Farrell and Industry Minister Ed Husic and nearly a dozen business leaders including the bosses of Wesfarmers, Telstra and Commonwealth Bank.
"This early visit with a very high-level delegation from Australia indicates to our Indonesian friends the importance that we place on that relationship."
The Albanese government has inherited a solid relationship from the Coalition, which inked a long-awaited trade deal with the globe's largest Muslim democracy and forged closer strategic ties.
Still, the pandemic has prevented the economic partnership from reaching anything near its full potential.
The deal — which aims to eliminate tariffs and boost trade and investment across multiple sectors – was signed in 2019 but was only ratified in Indonesia as the pandemic began.
Indonesia, a country of more than 270 million people that is hosting this year's G20 summit, is yet to crack Australia's list of top 10 trading partners.
Labor has accused the Coalition of neglecting its South-East Asian neighbours and has promised to invest an extra $470 million in aid in the region and work with Jakarta to deliver a $200 million "climate and infrastructure partnership".
'The ball is in Australia's court for business and investment'
Professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar, from Jakarta's Research Centre for Politics, said: "The road to Jokowi's heart will be business and investment," referring to President Joko Widodo.
And on that front, she said: "The ball is in Australia's court".
What will matter most, according to Professor Anwar, is the personal rapport Mr Albanese develops with President Widodo, or Jokowi as he's known.
"Relations are coloured by personalities, as well as policies," she said.
"We noted the personal rapport between PM [Malcolm] Turnbull and President Widodo with that famous market visit.
Professor Anwar said it is Labor — more than Coalition governments in Australia — that have done most to foster closer relations in the region.
"It has always been remarked that Labor prime ministers tend to make extra efforts to get close to their Asian neighbours," she said.
Indeed, it was Paul Keating who, as prime minister, recognised the importance of working closely with governments in Jakarta, once declaring that "no country is more important to Australia than Indonesia".
Mr Albanese may well be seeking to emulate that approach on his first visit to South-East Asia.
Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has also acknowledged signs that the new Albanese government will strengthen Australia's cooperation in the region.
Last week, she cited a pledge by Australia's new Foreign Minister Penny Wong to appoint a "roving" special envoy to ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"If you look at its history, the [Australian] Labor Party has established closer relations with Asian countries, including South-East Asia," she said, indicating expectations on Mr Albanese will be high.
Issues galore
Nevertheless, Australia's relationship with Indonesia has long been hampered by issues such as concerns over human rights abuses, Indonesian sensitivities over West Papua, asylum seeker boat turnbacks and the Bali Nine executions.
Most recently, Australia caused alarm in Jakarta and Malaysia over its bombshell AUKUS agreement with the UK and US to build nuclear-powered submarines.
Indonesia's Foreign Ministry at the time expressed deep concerns over the "continuing arms race and power projection in the region."
The statement was a reference to the great rivalry playing out in Indonesia's backyard between an increasingly assertive China and the United States, which views Beijing as its number one threat (something it needs to stay ahead of).
Indonesia pushes back against Chinese incursions into its maritime zone and disputes Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea, but it has so far resisted taking a stronger line.
The big elephant in the room
Philips J Vermonte, a senior fellow at Jakarta's Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said China would be the "big elephant in the room" during Mr Albanese's first meeting with Mr Widodo.
"We don't want to choose either side when we're talking about China or the United States," he said, noting China is Indonesia's biggest trading partner.
"I think the DNA of South-East Asian countries is that we want to have an open inclusive region."
China won't be the only delicate issue for Mr Albanese to navigate during his first official meeting with his Indonesian counterpart.
The Prime Minister is set to return to Indonesia in November for this year's G20 summit, which is already attracting controversy because of the likely attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Asked whether he would be comfortable attending the summit alongside Putin, Mr Albanese said he had "no time" for Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine but noted the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had been invited to observe.
"I note that President Zelenskyy has been invited to observe the meeting as well, at least by video link, and I think that is an important initiative that's been taken."