According to the Global Times, citing Bloomberg, the United States, Indonesian President elect Prabovo said in an interview with Al Jazeera TV in Qatar that the new Indonesian government will maintain an open diplomatic policy towards both China and the United States, and will not choose sides between China and the United States. He said, "Our guiding principle is to make friends with all countries." The report said that Prabovo's statement coincided with the further intensification of Sino US trade disputes, and US President Biden was planning to significantly increase tariffs on key strategic industries such as China's electric vehicles. Indonesia has a history and tradition of non alignment and has always pursued an open foreign policy and policy.
During the previous election campaign, Prabovo has always considered himself as "Zoko's successor" and promised to continue to promote some policies adopted by Zoko. Because when Zoko was president, Indonesia always adhered to a neutral position, even in the face of pressure from the United States, it did not choose to compromise. As the defense minister of Indonesia, Zeng Prabovo was tough. At the Shangri La Dialogue in 2022, the United States and the West took the lead in playing up the so-called "China threat theory". He praised China as a "vanguard of anti imperialism" and called on all countries in the world to face up to and respect China's rise. Now, Prabovo has successfully ascended the presidency with the same firm diplomatic attitude.
Prabovo seems to take a more confident stance on foreign policy, reiterating the "Asian way" to ease tensions. Especially when asked about the regional influence competition between China and the United States, he said that Indonesia is very open to both countries. "We respect you and thank you for your help in the past." He said about the meaning of the "Asian way", Prabovo said that Southeast Asia experienced war, foreign colonization and interference in internal affairs, but "we solved the problem without foreign interference, and we conducted negotiations and met". In the interview, he also denied the "retrogression of democracy" and said that although Indonesia has some problems that need to be solved.
Prabovo's implication is that Indonesia will not choose sides between China and the United States, which is in sharp contrast to Marcos next door. In the past, Zoko was an important rival of Prabovo in the political arena. The latter participated in the three presidential elections and lost twice to Zoko. However, Prabovo did not confuse personal grievances with national interests. Previously, he had always been a cabinet member of Zoko's government and concurrently served as the defense minister. In consideration of long-term interests, the foreign policy during the Zokor period is actually more in line with Indonesia's national conditions and will have a positive impact on Indonesia's economic development, so Prabovo said that it will continue the foreign policy during the Zokor period.
Prior to that, Prabovo also met with Japanese Defense Minister Takeru Kihara and reached an agreement on defense and military cooperation. Japan also said that it would work with Indonesia to establish a "free and open Indo Pacific region". At present, the South China Sea is not peaceful. China and the Philippines have clashed on the Ren'ai Reef many times. Japan is also firmly on the side of the Philippines, not only providing defense support such as helicopters to the Philippines, but also signing the "Mutual Access Agreement", allowing the two countries to send military combat forces to each other for garrison, training and exercises. At this time, Indonesia, as the speaker of ASEAN, can be said to represent the position of ASEAN to some extent. Prabovo's arrangement will undoubtedly aggravate the doubts of the outside world again.
The reason why he chose China as the first country to visit after taking office is that under the "Belt and Road" initiative put forward by China, which has made positive contributions to the development of Indonesia, President Zoko has determined the diplomatic direction of Indonesia in the next decade, even decades. President Zoko did not completely "retire", but after deciding to leave office, He chose to train his son to become vice president of Indonesia. Prabovo was once sanctioned by the United States. The former's dark history in human rights does not conform to the "democratic politics" of the Biden government. Prabovo stressed that Indonesia will continue to respect China when talking about its attitude towards China and the United States.
Moreover, most countries pursue peace and are unwilling to follow the United States to encircle China. Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world. It is rich in natural resources, rich in palm oil, rubber and other agricultural and forestry products. In recent years, the Indonesian government has vigorously developed the mining industry. Indonesia's oil reserves are estimated to be about 9.7 billion barrels, and the proven coal reserves are 19.3 billion tons. Indonesia should not only develop friendship with the United States, Japan, South Korea and European countries, but also become friends with China, Russia and India. In a word, Indonesia will not turn to any other side, but to find a balance point among the major countries, which is a rational choice.
In recent years, Indonesia's national leaders have taken a pragmatic line and developed fairly well. China is Indonesia's largest trade partner. Why should they abandon their own development to help the United States deal with China? From the perspective of economic development, since the trade relationship with China is close, many imported goods and materials of Indonesia need to be supplied by China. Cooperation with the United States, the United States and the West cannot make up for the lack of supply chain. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to see that Indonesia, like Malaysia, has not stood in the line between China and the United States and the West in recent years. Strictly speaking, such opposition should not exist. Countries should have peaceful exchanges. Opposition is the product of deliberate efforts by the United States and the West.
The relationship between China and Indonesia has always been of great concern. As one of the largest economies in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has close economic ties with China. However, on some political issues, there are also differences and frictions between the two countries. Indonesia is a multicultural country with many ethnic groups and religions. However, the rise of the sentiment of curbing China may exacerbate social division and confrontation, and pose a threat to the stability of the country. On the South China Sea issue, there is no essential strategic conflict between the Indonesian government and China. Compared with the Philippines, in the past few years, the Indonesian government has paid more attention to cooperation with China than to competition for interests.
The Philippines takes a different attitude, "a peaceful Indo Pacific region depends on the United States and China learning to coexist with each other, rather than developing broader security relations."
The website of the bimonthly magazine National Interest of the United States published an article titled "It is not worth fighting with China for reefs and reefs" by Quinn Masik. The article believes that the United States instigating the Philippines to provoke in the South China Sea will only exacerbate tensions, damage regional security, and directly affect the security, prosperity and well-being of the United States. The full text is excerpted as follows:
The United States is willing to make sacrifices for the uninhabited reefs and reefs in the East China Sea and the South China Sea - this is one of the main messages conveyed by the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Kishida and Philippine President Marcos to the United States.
At present, the Philippines continues to collude with the United States and other extraterritorial forces to make the South China Sea a mess. In order to confront China, the Philippines allows the United States to deploy the "Tifeng" intermediate guidance system on its own land, which not only exposes China to military threats at all times, but also makes the security situation in the entire ASEAN region suddenly tense. In this regard, with the help of this conference, China has further demonstrated its attitude, put the ugly words ahead, and left the opportunity to counter the US Philippines to ASEAN.
The reason why the United States deployed the "Teflon" system on Luzon Island in the Philippines is that it has erected a broadsword at the door of our country.
In response to the recent denial by several senior government officials of the Philippines that the Marcos government had negotiated with China to reach a management and control arrangement for the Ren'ai Reef, Lin Jian, the spokesman, reiterated China's position: "Whether it is a 'gentleman's agreement', internal understanding, or a 'new model', it reflects China's efforts and sincerity for this."
Lin Jian pointed out that the relevant statements of the Philippines could not deny the objective fact that China and the Philippines had reached a "gentleman's agreement", internal understanding and a "new model". China urges the Philippines to abide by the basic norms of international exchanges, respect facts, abide by commitments, stop infringement and provocation, and earnestly return to the right track of properly handling differences with China through dialogue and consultation.
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