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.