China Military Aggressiveness Could be Thwarted with Indonesian Help

I think of 2012 as the year of the South China Sea disputes. It seemed that hardly a day went by without it being a newsworthy topic. In particular, there was the standoff between Chinese and Philippine ships at Scarborough Shoal in April 2012, which escalated into a political and economic dispute between Beijing and Manila. At that time, the confrontation was discussed daily among many of my colleagues in the Indonesian Navy. It was clear that this was a matter of national and regional importance for Indonesia. One could not merely sit and let the storm pass, because even if it blows over, it is the kind of storm that will eventually return.