Indonesia should be more understanding of Taiwan

Indonesia should be more understanding of Taiwan

Bantarto Bandoro
Editor, 'The Indonesian Quarterly'
Centre for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS)
Jakarta
bandoro@csis.or.id

The Taiwanese president was scheduled to visit Indonesia on
Dec. 17 and meet Sultan Hamengkubuwono in Yogyakarta, but Jakarta
canceled the visit at the last minute, presumably under strong
pressure from China. China warned that it was not in the interest
of Indonesia to welcome the Taiwanese president and objected to
any foreign contact that appears to treat Taiwan as a sovereign
government. Indonesia canceled the visit because of its adherence
to its One China policy, which recognizes Beijing as the only
legal Chinese political entity. As a result, many Taiwanese
leaders have become enraged by the diplomatic slap in the face,
with many suggesting a full economic retreat from the Indonesia.

It was, in fact, not the first visit/planned visit to
Indonesia by a top Taiwanese leader that had ruffled China's
feathers. Last year, vice president Annette Lu was here, and
president Lee Teng-hui was also in the country in 1996 at which
time he "accidentally" met president Soeharto. Both events
angered China, but they did not drag Indonesia and Taiwan into a
political tangle like the planned visit by the president of
Taiwan did recently.

The cancellation of the visit of the Taiwanese president by
the Indonesian government did increase Beijing's political
leverage against Taiwan, meaning that Beijing had scored points,
because it successfully pressured Indonesia to distance itself
from that trip. China, politically and diplomatically, succeeded
in protecting friendly Sino-Indonesian ties, but a political
tangle between Indonesia and Taiwan cannot be averted now. The
tangle reflects the fact that both have stakes to be maintained.

Indonesia's adherence to the One China policy will not change
and Taiwan's international attempts at countering China's efforts
to isolate it will certainly not stop, though the refusal of the
visit by the government of Indonesia was seen by Taiwanese
politicians as a great humiliation. Taiwan is likely to launch
more diplomatic offensives and its political leaders will be more
persistent with efforts to raise the island's international
profile in the form of "holiday diplomacy" veiled with a high
degree of secrecy.

Had the visit materialized, Taiwan was hoping to achieve two
things: To express Taiwan's humanitarian concerns about the
terrorist strike in Bali and to foster trade cooperation in
Yogyakarta province. Even such seemingly benign motivation by
Taiwan was still considered by the government of Indonesia as
unacceptable -- after the heat was turned up by China. Indonesia
is committed to maintaining its diplomatic relations with Beijing
and will not allow visits to Jakarta by Taiwan's top government
officials to affect its ties.

In attempt to defend the position of the government,
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa was
reported as saying that past experience had shown that such
private visits by senior Taiwanese officials had become
politicized. If this is the case, the question is, who
politicized it? The statement clearly points at Taiwan who
politicized the visits, but it has always been considered as a
normal thing for Taiwan to do this because only through a
politicized "holiday" something substantial can be achieved.

Is it not wrong to assume that our country had also
"politicized" the recent planned visit by Taiwan president. If
Indonesia's One China policy is to be honored, then why did the
government last year let Taiwan's vice president Annette Lu visit
Jakarta in spite of strong protest from Beijing. Annette Lu was
not only allowed to enter the capital, but also met with a number
of legislators and former government officials.

The word "politicized", though it might not be the appropriate
term, to describe the current government stance on the issue of
the visit by Taiwan's president, can be assumed to mean that
Indonesia will continue to be alert to any future planned visit
to Jakarta, if any, by Taiwan's top leaders. This is a sign of
our sincerity in upholding the One China policy. Not only that,
the policy of non-recognition by Indonesia of Taiwan as an
independent state serves to protect Sino-Indonesian relations,
but there are bound to be more thorny situations in the future.

In response to Jakarta's decision to refuse a visit by
President Chen, Taiwan threatened to cut economic ties with
Indonesia. But many here are hoping Taiwan does not go through
with it. If Taiwan's threat materializes, it will be a
devastating to blow to the country and we are going to lose a
great many more investors (Taiwan is currently the 5th largest
investor here). Due to Taiwan's long-established economic
interests, it is unlikely that they will pull out of the country
only because of this Chen's humiliation, as it runs counter to
the nature of market-oriented business. Business should go on as
usual, even though we have no actual diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Indonesia does need to be more gentle towards Taiwan because this
country in dire need of foreign investment, and Taiwan has long
been a vital investment partner.

The refusal by the government of Indonesia of the visit by
president Chen is not a diplomatic blunder. The political tangle
between Indonesia and Taiwan is simply a sign of Indonesia's
difficulty in adhering to the One China policy, while also
fostering economic ties with Taiwan. There is too much at stake
for both Indonesia and Taiwan to allow relations to turn sour
simply because of bruised egos.