Living Next Door to China
Living in a fast-moving world with extremely high dynamics of change and highly sophisticated interstate maneuvers and planning, requires vigilance, sharp analysis and the skills to face them.
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Living in a fast-moving world with extremely high dynamics of change and highly sophisticated interstate maneuvers and planning, requires vigilance, sharp analysis and the skills to face them.
Strong countries have their own designs for the new world order they desire, complete with operational agenda and programs to achieve them. If it is careless, Indonesia can be swayed by the pull of other countries’ interests. It needs a proper foundation to respond to the development of China, which will become the strongest economy in the world with a strong, vast and modern armed forces.
The world continues to be startled by China’s astonishing achievements. Since its economic reforms in 1978, China has experienced high economic growth and is currently the second largest economy after the US, and its influence is increasing in the global economy and in global politics. Since the 2008 financial crisis, China has been the largest contributor to world economic growth.
Today, with nearly half of its population still relatively poor, China has attained the profile of a developed country. China has a wide range of manufacturers that produce automobiles, tractors and agricultural machinery, turbines and electric generators, fast trains, buses, computers, mobile phones, home electronics (such as TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners and washing machines), medical equipment, and other products that have succeeded not only in the domestic market, but have beaten Korean and Japanese products in export markets.
Several months ago, China tested a C-919 commercial airplane of the same class as the Boeing 737. In the service sector, China has many transport companies, construction companies, banks, insurance firms and other strong companies. China has built railroad tracks, toll roads and the longest sea bridge in the world.
Its position as the world\'s major exporter with US$3.14 trillion in foreign reserves (in December 2017), has given the yuan the potential to sit alongside the US dollar as an international currency. China has become the leading investor in various parts of the world. Through the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) program, China is encouraging investment to expand transportation infrastructure in 65 countries at a value of $900 billion. It has also invested in developed countries, including the US in the form of US government debt. As of June 2017, China holds $1.15 trillion in US government bonds, making China the largest US creditor.
China has also been successful in its space exploration program, becoming the third nation capable of launching its astronauts (taikonot) into space to orbit the Earth and to go on spacewalks. China has already sent satellites and exploration robots to the surface of the Moon and will land its taikonot on the Moon in the next few years. In military technology, including nuclear, China is very advanced. It already has two aircraft carriers and is building two more; it has mastered the technology for building fifth-generation jet fighters that was previously the sole domain of the US, and has hypersonic ballistic missiles capable of reaching a target 12,000 kilometers away in just 30 minutes. China will join the ranks of countries like the US, Britain, France and Russia that are capable of deploying their military power around the world.
The socioeconomic level of its people, who are more prosperous today, has also urged more and more Chinese citizens to take holidays abroad. By 2016, as many as 122 million Chinese tourists took overseas vacations, spending about US$110 billion. Many countries are competing to attract Chinese tourists, including Indonesia. The emergence of China as a new superpower in the economic, political, military and scientific spheres has also increased China’s interest in increasing its influence through international institutions. China has demanded greater voting rights at the World Bank and the IMF, and established the BRICS Development Bank with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, in addition to establishing the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
China is also eager to support the construction of a canal in Thailand that will connect the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea through the Tanah Genting Kra. If the 150-kilometer canal is realized, the Malacca Strait sea route will have a rival, as the canal cuts the distance from western to eastern Asia by more than 2,500 km. It certainly affects the geopolitical strategic value of Indonesia, partly because of the falling number of sea transport sailing through the Malacca Strait, which has been valued at $5,000 trillion per year.
Indonesia-China relations
History shows that the ties between Indonesia and China have fluctuated. It was intimate until 1965 and reached its lowest point in 1966-1967, when China provided support for the G30S incident. After normalization, relations grew warmer and in the current era, it is colored by many economic cooperations. When Japanese role in Southeast Asia receded after the 1998 financial crisis, China led in forming of the Chiangmai Initiative, a collective scheme of Southeast Asian and Chinese countries to deal with money market speculators, a very significant issue for this region because the Indonesian, Thai and Malaysian currencies were once victims of the games played by speculators, including Soros. China has been aggressive in providing economic and development incentives in Indonesia through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Indonesia-China bilateral trade continues to increase, especially following the implementation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA).
Indonesia-China relations have existed thousands of years. Yet, we need to remain cautious about Chinese interests that could harm Indonesia and instead utilize China\'s advances optimally for Indonesia\'s benefits. Since the era of the great archipelagic kingdoms of the past, China has tried to exercise political control over the archipelago. Once, Emperor Kublai Khan sent envoys and a fleet to claim tributes, which meant that the kings of Java were asked to kowtow to the Chinese emperor. King Kertanegara of the Kediri Kingdom firmly rejected the overture by by cutting off the ears of the two Chinese envoys and sent them back to China.
Broader and deeper interactions between the archipelago and China were smoother in cultural relations. Many areas of the archipelago have long become home to mainland Chinese immigrants. Every region of our country has seen the acculturation of immigrants from a number of nations and the local people; also among mainland Chinese immigrants. The Chinese culture is not a homogeneous one, and Chinese immigrants of diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds spread to all corners of the country. There are Hokkien, Hokchia, Khek, Cantonese, and others. Because the local population is also diverse, so too are the various cultural derivations among Indonesians of Chinese descent. The cultures of Chinese descendants in Medan, Bangka Belitung, West Kalimantan, Jakarta, Central Java, East Java and other areas are locally unique.
The profession and trade of Chinese immigrants also varied. In Bangka Belitung, Chinese immigrants were originally miners. In Central Java and East Java, Chinese immigrants originally worked as small traders and merchants that brought trade from remote areas to the cities, interacting with local farmers and other traders. The terms “ce pek”(hundred), “go cap”(fifty), “go ceng”(five thousand), “go ban”(fifty thousand), “go tiaw”(five million) became common in Javanese society. Acculturation occurs not only in physical forms such as architecture, artifacts and home furnishings, but also in batik, jewelry, vocabulary, everyday expressions, cooking, art (such as gambang kromong, cokekan and tanjidor), literature, painting, martial arts, astrology, medicine and so forth.
Chinese immigrants, with their more developed culinary culture, enriched the national culinary tradition. Our society is familiar with onde-onde, wingko, getuk, jenang, otak-otak, bakpao, siomay, and chicken noodle soup, snacks that were influenced by the Chinese culinary tradition. These cultural expressions of Peranakan Chinese spread to many places in Indonesia, and is different from and richer than the Chinese culinary expression in Malaysia and Singapore. Peranakan Chinese culture has become part of the national culture. The nature of the Indonesian people, which tends toward syncreticism, has incorporated Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic/Arab, Chinese, Indian and Western influences to color the variety of cultural expressions that exist in our society today. How rich and colorful Indonesian culture is.
Threat of China\'s awakening
Now there are suspicions that China\'s awakening will be a threat. Its territorial ambitions in the East and South China seas, and its imperialistic tendencies in Laos and Cambodia have caused many countries concern. Indonesia is lucky to have sea borders with China, and not land borders. Regarding the South China Sea, Indonesia has rejected a unilateral Chinese political move to claim part of Indonesia\'s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), from the northern and eastern waters of the Natuna Islands, as territorial waters under China\'s EEZ.
A shooting incident also occurred between a Chinese coast guard vessel and an Indonesian coast guard vessel that was capturing illegal Chinese fishermen. Indonesia has consistently stated that it has no territorial dispute with China over economic zones, because China\'s claim is not recognized by either international law or the international community. China\'s imperialistic tendencies in Southeast Asia – especially in Laos and Cambodia, whose economies are heavily dependent on China – are on the rise. Over the last four years, ASEAN forums have failed to agree on a joint statement protesting Beijing in disputes on the South China Sea (filed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei) because of the objections of Cambodia and Laos.
Siswono Yudo Husodo
Our cautious attitude toward Beijing must be applied in many areas. In economic cooperation, Sri Lanka\'s bitter experience of its ports and airports being given to China in 2016 should not occur here. In politics, Australia\'s complaint that China was striving to influence Australia\'s domestic politics by funding several political figures and NGOs, needs to be viewed as an important lesson. Meanwhile, in terms of culture, the local and highly unique cultural identity of the archipelago territory must be preserved.
China\'s enormous economic capability and market for various products need to be utilized to accelerate Indonesia\'s progress across all sector by sticking to Bung Karno\'s Trisakti philosophy: political sovereignty, economic self-reliance, and cultural identity.
Siswono Yudo Husodo, Chairman, Board of Supervisors, Pancasila University Foundation
