"Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao`s visit to Indonesia late last month ahead of the summit is not without reasons. The US dominant influence to the summit is one of the reasons. China wants to say the next battle will continue in Indonesia," Ichsanuddin Noorsy of the Indonesian Economic and Political Association said at a discussion here on Wednesday.
According to him, the US had been losing ground in the economic battle to China since 2008. The US economy which tried to recover from the global crisis had reduced the super power`s dominance in ASEAN while at the same time China had slowly but surely strengthened its influence.
"The battle is still going on. The US wants to maintain its dominance in ASEAN particularly Indonesia, while China has begun to strengthen its influence," he said.
Indonesia had attracted the world`s two major powers, As a big country, Indonesia had a population of close to 250 million, or about a half of ASEAN population, he said.
"This makes Indonesia the biggest market in the region," he said.
In addition, Indonesia also had very strategic position both for the Southeast Asian region and the Asian region. The Malacca Strait was one of the most important straits in the global trade, he said.
(T.M041/S012/H-NG/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
