Opinion: Indonesia is the missing piece in America’s Indo-Pacific strategy

Judging from the results of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore over the weekend, the United States’ strategy to prevent China from achieving hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region is making progress. With American support assured, Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos — the keynote speaker — declared “Filipinos do not yield” to pressure from China. New initiatives were unveiled to deepen trilateral defense cooperation between the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. While to prevent inadvertent escalation in the Indo-Pacific, U.S.-China military dialogue reopened at the top level, after a two-year interlude.