August 24, 2016
David Ignatius used his WaPo column to express his concern that Australia will opt to align itself more closely with China at the expense of its ties with the United States. In making the argument that other regional powers may provide an offset to China, Ignatius cites Indonesia, which he notes has seen its per capita income increase by 50 percent while China’s economy is slowing.
While Indonesia’s growth has been pretty good over this period, China’s per capita GDP increased by 136 percent over the same period. Even with its slowdown its economy is still growing more rapidly than Indonesia’s. It does not seem likely that Indonesia will gain economic strength relative to China any time soon.
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