[Nasional-e] Fw: [ambon.com] [CNS] China Eyes Economic, Military Ties With Indonesia

[Ambon]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marinyo Maluku" <marinyo@email.com>
To: <ambon@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 2:56 PM
Subject: [ambon.com] [CNS] China Eyes Economic, Military Ties With Indonesia


> 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.
>
>
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchi
ve%5C200210%5CFOR20021002b.html
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Service.
>
>
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