CNS News, October 02, 2002
China Eyes Economic, Military Ties With Indonesia
By Patrick Goodenough, Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - China and Indonesia are putting historical
differences behind them and pursuing economic and military cooperation, in a
development some analysts believe may come at the expense of the United States.
China's concerns about expanding U.S. military presence in the Central Asian
Republics to its west, they say, may be prompting Beijing to retaliate by focusing on
nations in Southeast Asia, traditionally a U.S. sphere of influence.
But China is also likely to be driven by its rivalry with Taiwan, which has begun to look
to Southeast Asia for economic and political allies.
Relations between Indonesia and China were cool during the three-decade tenure of
Gen. Suharto, an anti-communist who was named president after a 1965 coup
attempt blamed on communists.
In subsequent purges in which hundreds of thousands of suspected communists were
killed, many Chinese were targets of mob violence.
As a result, diplomatic relations with China were severed in 1967 and only restored in
1990. Suharto stepped down in 1998.
Gas, weapons
Late last week, the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) signed a $8.5 billion
contract to buy liquefied natural gas from a project in Indonesia's remote eastern
region of Papua to supply China's Fujian province over the next 25 years.
Pumping of the liquefied natural gas to a terminal to be built on the Chinese coast
opposite Taiwan is due to begin around 2006-7.
Indonesia has abundant oil and gas reserves, and China faces a huge demand for
energy in the years to come.
Indonesian oil minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the deal would "cement the growing
economic and social ties between our two countries."
"With a lot of issues the international community says that Indonesia is not safe but
the fact we signed the contract shows the trust ... and confidence of the government
of China," he added.
In recent years Indonesia's stability has been called into question by a series of
bloody Christian-Muslim conflicts and separatist rebellions, including one in Papua.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. last year, the country has been viewed warily
by officials in the U.S. and its neighbors in Singapore and Malaysia, who suspect
al-Qaeda-linked terrorists have been active there.
Jakarta's ties with its traditional ally in Washington were also strained when
military-inspired violence erupted in East Timor after the predominantly Catholic
territory voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999.
The U.S. - which was Indonesia's mains weapons supplier following the 1965 coup -
halted government-sponsored and commercial weapons sales to Jakarta, and bilateral
military training programs were stopped.
Washington is edging back toward resuming military ties, but the process is
complicated by continuing concerns about human rights abuses by the military and a
lack of accountability.
Indonesia said the U.S. ban on weapons sales had left it short of spare parts, and
many of its U.S.-made transport and fighter planes had to be been grounded as a
result.
It was also hampering security forces' ability to carry out missions in places like
Maluku, where thousands were dying in Christian-Muslim violence, officials
complained.
Shortly after the embargo was imposed, Indonesian military chiefs were quoted as
saying they would have to develop military ties with China in an attempt to overcome
equipment shortages caused by the ban.
Those efforts recently stepped up a gear, with a visit to Indonesia by China's military
chief, Gen. Chi Hoatian, and other top military brass.
After meeting the general in Jakarta two weeks ago, Indonesian military head Gen.
Endriartono Sutarto told the state-run Antara news agency Indonesia was discussing
weapons sales and military cooperation with Beijing.
"Indonesia will not continue to be dependent on one source, which has imposed an
embargo for the past few years," he said.
Sutarto has been invited to China to see the military equipment on offer.
Chi also met President Megawati Sukarnoputri and reiterated China's desire to
expand ties with Jakarta.
Keeping Taiwan in check
Officials from both sides also made the expected political statements, declaring
support for each other's territorial integrity.
Thus China expressed sympathy for Jakarta's efforts to keep the disparate
archipelago together, while Indonesia said it backed the "one China" policy.
That policy regards Taiwan as a renegade province and has reunification with the
mainland as its goal.
Taiwan has in recent months been exerting its independence and fighting Beijing's
attempts to isolate it diplomatically.
The island democracy's vice-president, Annette Lu, paid a visit to Indonesia last
August - a visit that so upset China that it successfully urged Megawati not to meet
with Lu.
At the time, a Taiwanese daily reported that Taipei also wanted to sign a deal to buy
$11.7 billion worth of liquefied natural gas over 25 years, and that Indonesia was
interested.
Jian Yang, a China expert at the University of Auckland, said while China naturally
wants to strengthen its influence in southeast Asia - a move that might be at the
expense of players like the U.S. and Japan - "I do not think this kind of strategic
calculation is Beijing's primary objective, at least at this stage."
Yang said the Taiwan issue was a pressing one for China.
"Many of the regional countries are lured by economic benefits that Taiwan could
provide," he said. "Beijing's closer relations with these countries may firm up their
stance on the 'one China' policy."
Beijing was also attempting to alleviate any concerns southeast Asian nations may
have that China posed an economic or military threat to them, Yang added.
According to the Texas-based independent analysis organization, Stratfor, Beijing
appears to have been offered a unique opportunity to improve relations with Asian
countries because of "Washington's preoccupation with Iraq and the anti-terrorism
war."
From Indonesia's point of view, it had become apparent that the U.S. remained unsure
of Indonesia's military, it said. "Beijing is exploiting the Indonesian military's frustration
with the continuing U.S. arms embargo."
Stratfor said Washington's anti-terror campaign has also proven to be a divisive issue
in Indonesia.
Predominantly Muslim Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, after
China, India and the U.S.
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