August 13, 2026 | 04:16 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The United States respects Indonesia’s right to determine how best to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge A. Colby said Thursday, adding that Washington is ready to work with Jakarta to achieve that goal.
“We very much respect that and want to work with countries like Indonesia based on their own perspective on how to maintain their sovereignty,” Colby said during an online media briefing monitored in Jakarta.
Colby said the United States was focused on maintaining a balance of power through a combination of military strength and active diplomacy. He said strong ties with Washington could benefit countries in the region while strengthening their ability to safeguard their sovereignty.
“There are goals that we want to achieve to maintain that balance of power, but we have absolutely no intention of weakening or interfering with Indonesia’s sovereignty. We want to strengthen it,” Colby said.
He said the same approach applied to Thailand and the Philippines, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, even though he did not visit the latter three countries.
Colby acknowledged that cooperation must be based on mutual interests, saying Washington’s main interest was seeing countries in the region grow stronger and remain capable of protecting their sovereignty and territorial integrity.
US Seeks Regional Balance
According to Colby, the United States seeks to serve as a partner in maintaining the regional balance of power.
He argued that a strong US presence in the region was aligned with the interests of Southeast Asian countries because a stable balance of power would be difficult to maintain without Washington's active engagement.
“We hope for the continuation of a peaceful balance of power, which in turn will promote further economic growth throughout this region,” Colby said.
Colby met Indonesian Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Jakarta on August 11, followed by a meeting with President Prabowo Subianto the following day.
During his meeting with Sjafrie, Colby discussed developments in bilateral defense ties and the implementation of several programs under the Major Defense Cooperation Partnership (MDCP), which the two countries established on April 13, 2026.
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