The New York Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/opinion/the-rise-of-the-middle-powers.html

September 10, 2012

The Rise of the Middle Powers

By BRUCE GILLEY

Portland, Ore.
THE biggest news to emerge from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s visit to Asia last week came at a news conference with the Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa. Mrs. Clinton acknowledged that Washington accepts Jakarta’s “leadership” in resolving the territorial disputes over the South China Sea — disputes that have led to bellicose rhetoric from China, Vietnam and the Philippines in recent months. A State Department official later told reporters that, in Washington’s view, “the leading state in the effort is clearly Indonesia.”