In the Middle of Global Governance

By Ding Gong

Indonesia is actively participating in global governance reform through the MIKTA middle power grouping

In March 2023,Indonesia took over the chairmanship of MIKTA from Turkiye,marking the second time Indonesia has served as the rotating chair of a global governance mechanism,following the Bali G20 Summit in 2022.

MIKTA is an informal middle power partnership between Mexico,Indonesia,the Republic of Korea (ROK),Turkiye,and Australia.Its aim is to improve foreign policy practice through a concerted voice,joint action,and complementary capabilities to achieve the goal of reforming the existing world political and economic system and establishing a more balanced and equal global governance system.The content of cooperation has expanded and produced tangible results,helping MIKTA become an increasingly important force in promoting world economic growth and global governance reform.

As an important member and one of the founders of MIKTA,Indonesia has attached great importance to its strategic value.It has leveraged the group not only as an international dialogue platform to achieve its own diplomatic breakthroughs,but also as a starting point to gain institutional power in global governance and multilateral cooperation.China’s cooperation with Indonesia on this platform will help make the system of global governance fairer and more equitable.

New Role under G20

The G20 (an intergovernmental forum connecting the world’s major economies) has become a major platform for global governance.In addition to the traditional established powers and the new powers in the world today,the mechanism has included several middle powers such as Australia,Mexico,and the ROK.The middle powers have gradually developed from the beneficiaries of international public goods to the bearers of international responsibility and providers of global public goods-one of the most important factors affecting and changing the course of the international system.

And as BRICS (an intergovernmental organization consisting of Brazil,Russia,India,China,and South Africa)mechanism gradually takes shape and improves,competition between the G7 (an intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada,France,Germany,Italy,Japan,the UK,and the U.S.) and BRICS has been growing.The middle powers feel an increasing sense of urgency,with some countries consciously approaching each other to team up to achieve the effect of“making a fist by pressing all the fingers together.”

On the sidelines of the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly in September 2013,the South Korean foreign minister held an official meeting with his counterparts from Mexico,Australia,Indonesia,and Turkiye to discuss the establishment of a middle power cooperation mechanism,which was a key step in turning the idea of independent cooperation between middle powers into action.

MIKTA hosted the 2020 MIKTA Festival on Food & Tourism in Guangzhou on November 25,2020. (NEWSGD.COM)

Participants pose at the 2020 MIKTA Festival on Food & Tourism in Guangzhou on November 25,2020. (NEWSGD.COM)

Within the G20 mechanism,MIKTA enables institutionalized face-to-face communication with major powers,basically constituting a pattern of“tripartite confrontation” with the traditional powers of G7 and the emerging powers of BRICS.Over the years,MIKTA has established a series of multilateral dialogue mechanisms in a range of professional fields,which has not only facilitated communication and interaction among the experts,young people,businessmen,and scholars of the five countries,but also enriched the formulation of various international rules with its own practice,creating opportunities for promoting the development of international multilateral mechanisms in a more equitable,efficient,and pragmatic manner.

With the continuous expansion of areas of transnational cooperation,MIKTA has grown into an important force for promoting world economic growth,improving global governance,and promoting democracy in international relations as well as an important factor in promoting reform of the global economic governance system.

Indonesia’s Participation in Global Governance

MIKTA is an important component of Indonesia’s practice of middle power diplomacy as well as a platform for Indonesia to participate in the reform of the global economic governance system,with a certain value orientation for Indonesia’s diplomatic strategy.As the most populous and only Southeast Asian member of MIKTA,Indonesia has played an active and constructive role and achieved remarkable results in the process of MIKTA’s planning,launch,and evolution.

When Indonesia chaired MIKTA for the first time in 2018,it focused on issues such as peace and security,Myanmar,and creative economics,while sharing experience in governance,reflections on the international financial crisis,and good models of protecting human rights and safeguarding social stability.In August 2020,the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2538,introduced by Indonesia and co-sponsored by MIKTA countries,on female personnel in UN peacekeeping missions,which laid the foundation for the agenda of women as agents of peace and security.

As MIKTA becomes an increasingly unique strategic force,Indonesia’s desire to transform the international political and economic order with the support of MIKTA has become stronger,which has been most evident during Joko Widodo’s presidency.A government official indicated that this dialogue mechanism is a crucial piece of Indonesia’s diplomatic jigsaw puzzle and a potential bridgehead for the establishment of cooperative relations with more like-minded countries.Indonesia is considering establishing a foreign minister’s special liaison office in each MIKTA country to expand the core interests of the group on the international stage.

During the Bali G20 Summit in November 2022,leaders of MIKTA countries held a meeting,marking a historic moment in the development process of MIKTA.On the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023,Indonesia,as the chair of MIKTA,initiated and hosted the first MIKTA Leaders’ Meeting.

During its current chairmanship of MIKTA,Indonesia has carried out various activities including summit meetings of heads of state or government and working group meetings on issues related to natural disasters,human rights,women,and the workforce,and released more than 10 joint statements at various international forums.Alongside official meetings and cooperation mechanisms,relevant departments and groups in Indonesia have carried out various supportive activities such as entrepreneur forums,banking forums,cooperative consortium forums,think tank conferences,financial forums,and business forums.

Essentially,Indonesia leveraged the Bali G20 Summit to successfully herald a second decade of MIKTA cooperation.And by hosting the Summit,Indonesia has contributed its wisdom to the blueprint for future MIKTA Leaders’Meetings.

China-Indonesia Cooperation

China and Indonesia are close neighbors on mutual assistance,and China has always regarded Indonesia as a priority of its diplomacy in the neighborhood and the Asia-Pacific region.It is imperative that China and Indonesia work together for a more just and equitable global governance system to not only guarantee their respective development needs and international status but also meet the overall objectives and long-term interests of both sides.This is of strategic significance and has global implications for each other.

China and MIKTA have a strong convergence of interests and ideas in the field of global economic governance,with the space and potential to strengthen coordination and cooperation.China and the five MIKTA countries not only embrace the transformation of the established order,but also promote reform of the international governance system.Both have benefited from the maintenance and expansion of the free trade system as well as the deepening of economic globalization and multilateralism.

Both China and MIKTA highly value and cherish the opportunity to participate in global governance as G20 members,and both have shown great willingness to consolidate G20 as the premier platform for global governance.Both have accepted the responsibility to support the international system within the existing framework by strengthening collective behavior rather than designing another approach for competition outside the existing system.Such factors create potential and possibility for China and the middle powers to become cooperation partners.

China can work with Indonesia to actively explore the establishment of a regular meeting mechanism for the foreign ministers of China and MIKTA countries.It can also provide support and assistance for MIKTA activities in China to become indirectly involved in cooperation through the MIKTA mechanism.Since November 2020,the consulate-generals of the five MIKTA countries in Guangzhou have co-hosted four MIKTA cultural exchange activities.Leading officials from the Foreign Affairs Office of the Guangzhou Municipal Government were invited and attended the activities.

The Western countries led by G7 are realizing that the rapid development of emerging economies is increasingly detrimental to the continued privileged status of developed countries.They seek to maintain an unreasonable international economic order and rules in the existing organizational context.Meanwhile,MIKTA supports consolidation of G20 as a major forum for international economic governance cooperation and hopes it will play a positive role in maintaining financial stability,improving global economic governance,strengthening international macroeconomic policy coordination,and enhancing the representation and voice of developing countries.Such developments sharply contrast the attempts by some Western countries to challenge the global governance framework and block the normal development of emerging economies.

China-Indonesia cooperation will contribute to a more just and equitable international order and global governance system,which will help promote the development of emerging economies and middle powers.