The Intersection between China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Indonesia's Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF) after Covid-19 Persinggungan antara Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) China dan Poros Maritim Global (GMF) Indonesia pasca Covid-19

In response to the current condition of political and economic conditions in Southeast Asia, this article will elaborate on the intersection between China’s and Indonesia’s foreign policy on two sides, negative and positive intersection by understanding the foreign policy vision of each country's policy. This study tries to explain the intersection of Belt Road Initiative (BRI) by China with Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF) of Indonesia by using qualitative methods and collected data from library research. To deepen the understanding of how both states implemented their foreign policy, media analysis and national interest concept are used. The result indicates that Indonesia needs to respond to the foreign policy of China carefully. Moreover, the COVID-19 outbreak has altered the development of events on how the two missions from each country collide. Although every decision Indonesia has made regarding China’s BRI policy will not harm Indonesia’s national interest in the future, Indonesia will still have to tread carefully and imply wise decisions in its foreign policy, especially during the recovery period of COVID-19 pandemic.


INTRODUCTION
Under the administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), Indonesia launched a new outlook on its foreign policy titled Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF). The new outlook on its foreign policy is based on its rich history as an archipelagic state. To implement and achieve the goals of the GMF, acceleration in maritime development needs to be done for the welfare of the Indonesian people. While doing so, the GMF should be able to be synergized with various regional initiatives across the world such as Act East from India, The implementation of the policies above is not free from obstacles.
When implementing GMF, Indonesia appears to have too many regulations which are not integrated with each other. For example, the appointment of the state agencies to hold the authority on the law enforcement and security at sea, which are the Water and Air Police, the Maritime and Coast-Guard Unit, and the Marine and Fishery Resources Supervision Officer are overlapping to each other, particularly in regard of shipping permit, fishing permit, and other licensing aspects (Pikoli, 2021, p. 158). On the BRI side, there is a problem called the "deficit-trap". The policy to reduce trade and cooperation barriers between China and BRI countries has a consequence in unbalanced competition. The investment in infrastructure or other projects caused the local manufacturers to create new strategies to resist and overcome the competitiveness with Chinese products and also the decline in income and investment (Chang, 2022). Yet, Xi Jinping argued the BRI project is a win-win solution because it creates broader opportunities among countries (Reuters, 2019).
From both country's policies, we can observe that there are objectives and challenges, which are also already a lot of literature that discusses this matter, like Adam (2017) found that the public in Indonesia on the previous cooperation under One Belt One Road (OBOR), are having skepticism because the financing comes from China, which raises suspicion of Chinese investment in Indonesia (Adam, 2017). Damuri et al., (2019) mentioned that there is speculation that the BRI will be another form of neo-colonial power and a modern version of the China tributary system or some other conspiracy goal POLITICON : Jurnal Ilmu Politik Vol.4 No.2 ;Hal 205-236 Website : http://journal.uinsgd.ac.id/index.php/politicon ISSN : 2685-6670 ( Online ) Copyright ( (Damuri et al., 2021). Then, with regard to GMF, Laksmana (2019) considered that the National Ocean Policy is partly a large civil servant document that links pre-existing programs in the ministry (Laksmana, 2019).
It can be seen that there are still limited articles which discuss and examine the intersection between both BRI and GMF. Thus, this article tries to describe the outcome of the respective foreign policy of Indonesia and China and whether it is still in congruence with early establishment. By analyzing how the GMF and BRI benefit each other, we will gain a deeper understanding of how the states fulfill their national interests. This article also analyzed the implemented programs before and during the Covid-19 pandemic which affected the allocation of GDP of each country. The conclusion of this article summarized the data and facts presented in the discussion.

RESEARCH METHOD
The research uses a descriptive qualitative approach. Mely G. Tan explained that this research has the aim to describe accurately the nature of a symptom, situation, an individual, or a certain group, or to determine the spread of a symptom or the existence of a certain relationship to a symptom or condition with symptoms, or other conditions in society (Silalahi, 2009).
Then, a literature study is applied to obtain the data for the analysis.
The data is obtained from official documents, books, journal articles, reports, and online sources such as the news from mass media. The writer implements data analysis techniques. According to Miles and Huberman, after collecting data, analysis activities include three main steps, those are data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion (Silalahi, 2009, pp. 339-340).
This means that the data gained from the various sources will be filtered to result in the relevant data related to the topic of this research. Then the data is presented to be analyzed and concluded.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
For this research, we used the national interest concept since the establishment of nation-states to describe the aspirations and goals of the state in the international arena (Nuechterlein, 1976, p. 246). Hans J. Morgenthau stated the national interest is a standard for people or politicians to evaluate the decision-making process and implementation of a foreign policy (Morgenthau, The Primacy of the National Interest, 1949).
With the current situation of the globalized world and the post-Cold War era, the state is no longer the only actor in international relations and sovereignty is no longer the primary value of international politics. Other than that, the globalized world also influences the interactions between nations (Hudson, 2001, p. 343). They are no longer a single entity against the other, but they are a part of international society. The interactions between nations are not limited to politics, but also to economic, social, and other low-politics activities. In addition, a globalized world also means that even domestic occurrences experienced by nations will have a certain extent of influence on others. Therefore, it can be said that one actor in international relations has a certain degree of influence on the other, especially regarding national interest and foreign policy.
However, the increasing number of actors in international relations likewise leads to a clash of interests (Dermawan, 2019, p. 35). A clash of interests between actors is a natural sequence, especially if there are too many actors getting engaged and each of them has their interests. This situation in turn will induce the nations to struggle in pursuing their national interest.
Thus, the nations need to adjust their national interest to correspond to global needs (Dermawan, 2019, p. 34;Frankel, 1970, p. 21 purposes for which it is done remain the same/unchanged" (Hermann, 1990, p. 5). Although one should know that the change or modification in foreign policy by the policymakers involves a complex process, for instance, the influence of international situation and the role of individual values or perceptions as the policymakers, this article will only consider the influence of the international situation on the nation-state level. development across the nation increases the concern about its maritime sovereignty. This situation led to the nation functioning more as a collection of weakly integrated economies than as a unified market (Neary, 2014). The poor infrastructure is also accompanied by limited funds regarding Indonesia's capabilities to safeguard its maritime areas. That is nothing new that maintaining and protecting sea lanes, even the ones without a substantial economic return on the investment, is highly costly. At the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Focus Group discussion in April 2013, President Jokowi emphasized the importance of maritime connectivity through maritime infrastructure development (Saha, 2016, p. 4;Setiyono, 2020, p. 23). One of the most prominent maritime infrastructure development projects under the GMF is the establishment of a sea toll road (tol laut). The Indonesian government is aware that its port's efficiency is falling behind compared with its fellow Southeast Asian neighbors, for instance, Singapore and Malaysia. The Singapore and Malaysia international shipping process has an average dwell time of 1.5 days and 3 days respectively (Piesse, 2015, p. 5  Furthermore, to encourage the utilization of sea business; domestic business utilizing the sea, the Indonesian government proposed to give an incentive for the ship operators, such as fuel subsidies, and import up to 2500 boats to increase the flow of goods and reduce the transportation fees (Piesse, 2015, p. 5 Figure 4: In addition, to support maritime defense and security, the Indonesian government also proposed to increase the number of defense equipment to  fuel to put GMF into the least concern of the Indonesian government. However, In the first and second years, only ten countries formally joined BRI by signing an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding). However, it developed rapidly since 2015, more countries joined BRI and China succeeded in expanding its regional cooperation to Latin America in 2017 (Hillman & Sacks, 2021). In the same year, BRI became included in the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Parties and made it strengthen its activities and programs (Hillman & Sacks, 2021). Indonesia is one of the countries participating in BRI.  (Mitchell, 2018).

However, the assumption for the similarities between the BRI and
Marshall Plan is none other than the balance of power between China and the U.S. These two countries are trying to gain dominance, either in economics or politics. Politically, the Beijing government wants to be the leader of the world by spreading non-liberal values. Meanwhile, economically, China is trying to lead the Industrial Revolution 4.0 by massive production and trade with countries worldwide (Doshi, 2021).

The BRI implementation in 2013 has increased the trade value between
China and the BRI's countries, as shown in Figure 6. The trade volume increase was relatively stable. The graph shows that China has extensive influence and role under the auspices of BRI. This situation gives the impression that BRI is a "debt-trap diplomacy" by providing debt with a particular interest rate and giving infrastructure development assistance. Most BRI countries are categorized as developing countries. Thus, it causes debt sustainability (Gerstel, 2018 Pacific, 2021).

Figure 6. Trade value between China and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
Source: Textor (2020) To refute this assumption, the Chinese government announced five main pillars of BRI, which are policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people exchanges (United Nations, 2019

Third Stage: Connection
Developing equitable internet and road networks has become one of the goals of the establishment of BRI. The Chinese government projects this development to reach up to 3 billion middle-class people by 2020.
These steps are then implemented in many regions of the world, as can be seen in Figure 4. Below are the details of countries that are members of BRI economic corridors:  (Stefano, Iapadre, & Salvati, 2021, p. 6) Based on Table 1., the majority of member states are categorized as developing countries. Investment in public infrastructure development projected in BRI positively relates to ease in the economic sector, such as distribution of goods and services, administrative activities, and productivity.
This BRI is an excellent opportunity to advance their economy and increase their national income. However, the provision of such investment might become a boomerang for the recipient countries because it might make the recipient dependent on the giver. Morgenthau (1962) argues that international aid is a bribe because, in the future, the recipient country will owe and indirectly has to reach the objectives economic needs of the giver country. Thus, when the recipient country has succeeded in enhancing its economy because of the giver's aid, the recipient country is more likely to be indebted politically and economically (Morgenthau, 1962, p. 209) As discussed earlier, the rivalry between the United States and China led to a competition to achieve broader influence in many world regions. By implementing BRI, the Chinese government prefers to cooperate with countries not allied with the United States or do not have the same ideology as the United States. As one of BRI's members, we argue that Indonesia's current position tends to be neither too "Western" nor too "Eastern" in international politics and more opportunist because Indonesia takes advantage of both sides.
Before implementing the BRI program in Indonesia, the Chinese government signed strategic cooperation on the economy and financial sector, However, the agreement in the maritime sector is contradictory to their relations which are at odds due to the Dash Line claim. Although Indonesia is not the claimant, the tension between the two countries grew as a consequence of overlapping with the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) of Natuna Island which is part of Indonesia's territory (Wangke, 2020 A few months later, in September, Indonesia approved the construction of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail. This collaboration is one of the prominent cooperation between Indonesia under the framework of GMF and China with its BRI is the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (JHSR) project which costs up to $5.9 billion (Lai, 2019). Besides the JHSR project, there is also the Qingshan Morowali Industrial Park project in Sulawesi which has succeeded in creating up to 30,000 jobs for local people (Xinli, 2019). The amount of investment and debt given to Indonesia under BRI is considered to make Indonesia the highest recipient in ASEAN. This is because Indonesia received up to US$ 171 billion, followed by Vietnam with US$ 152 billion (Pant & Saha, 2021). Nonetheless, the JHSR delayed and required a re-calculation of the financing scheme due to a cost overrun of up to 1.39 billion dollars (Ramadhan, 2021 when it will be completed (Ramadhan, 2021).
On the other hand, China has to face drastic changes in the economic situation due to the strict implementation of the lockdown and focuses on restoring its domestic economy first. As many as 240,000 companies in China went bankrupt, some of which permanently closed their companies (Mouritz, 2020, p. 119). Countries that are partners with China under the auspices of the BRI are also experiencing a sluggish economy and require the government to take various policies to rescue their economy and improve their healthcare.
Before the pandemic, 23 countries were already in a difficult situation due to debts provided through BRI (Mouritz, 2020, p. 121). In addition, Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Xiaolong, said at least 20% of BRI projects were seriously affected by the pandemic (Reuters, 2020).     for Indonesia still raises pros and cons. Some think that BRI can benefit Indonesia. This opinion was stated by the General Chairperson of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN), Rosan P. Roeslani, who argued that Indonesia and China had the same interests, particularly in infrastructure development in Indonesia (Kurmala, 2021). Of course, this is closely related to the program that is being intensified by Jokowi, that infrastructure is one way to support the economy. This is not limited to infrastructure related to the distribution chain such as roads, rail, and ports, POLITICON : Jurnal Ilmu Politik Vol.4 No.2 ; the Hambantota port project located on the southern coast of Sri Lanka through debt relief amounting to US$ 1.5 billion. However, due to not being able to pay the debt, Sri Lanka was required to sign a contract stipulating that the port must serve the Chinese company for 99 years. Another example is Zimbabwe must owe to China an accumulated value of up to the US $ 4 million or Rp. 54.8 trillion (exchange rate of Rp. 13,700). As a result of not being able to manage its debt properly and being unable to pay its debts, Zimbabwe had to change its currency to the Yuan in exchange for debt relief (Afriyadi, 2021).
What is experienced by the two countries, of course, can be used as a lesson for Indonesia? The intention to build infrastructure to boost the economy should not be a blunder. The government of course must be very careful and of course, determine the priority scale for what they apply for foreign loans.
They must also consider that the loan amount proposed can be repaid so as not to backfire on the country itself.