Indonesia is one of the founding members of ASEAN and long served as its de facto leader, playing a crucial role in mediating regional crises. Analysts warned that its leadership in the group on the South China Sea issue would wane if it stopped championing international legal norms.

Officials in the Philippines say that President Trump will not pull back from defense commitments because Manila and Washington have a common adversary.

Indonesia, southeast Asia's largest economy, has long maintained a neutral foreign policy. But President Prabowo Subianto appears keen to deepen defense and security ties with Russia.

In the early 2000s, Russia and China had heeded US preferences regarding the Korean Peninsula by engaging in multilateralism with the Six-Party Talks to deal

The Philippines, a neighbour of China, purchased the BrahMos missile system from India in 2024, which it has deployed in the South China Sea. According to recent reports, Indonesi

China’s assertion of power in the South China Sea has been a gradual yet systematic process. From building military outposts on artificial islands to deploying its vast maritime militia, Beijing has ensured that it is the most formidable presence in these waters.

China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned.