Indonesia and China

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33037, 3 October 1972, Page 14

Indonesia and China

President Suharto of Indonesia has been described as a man who can be stubborn in two languages. He has other, more commendable, qualities—caution, patience, and respect for honest dealing. General Suharto mistrusts Chinese policy, expressed in Peking’s continuing efforts to extend its influence in Arab and other Asian countries. Indonesia is one of the countries recently invited to take part in what have been called the “ Asian table-tennis Olympics *. Table tennis, it appears, is still regarded in Peking as a useful instrument of diplomacy. At any rate, most of the countries invited to China accepted readily—with the notable exception of Indonesia. General Suharto and his advisers cannot ignore China’s expanding role in world affairs; the Indonesians are not in any hurry to welcome a formal Chinese presence in Djakarta, which might have a propagandist value. They already know that the Russians work closely with the North Vietnamese Embassy, still maintained in Djakarta, and that Russian propaganda in Indonesia has recently been increased.

General Suharto has good reasons for wanting to maintain a solid front by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines against both China and Russia. Indonesia and Malaysia have been quietly drawing together; but both countries fear that Singapore, under Lee Kuan Yew, might be tempted to seek a separate accord with Peking. There is some anxiety also in Djakarta about the recurrence of insurgency—fomented by the proscribed Communist Party of Malaysia—both in Malaysia and Thailand General Suharto fears that wider regional disturbance might develop if the Thai and Malaysian Governments do not take joint action to crush the guerrillas General Suharto prefers at the moment to stay correctly, if not coldly, aloof from Peking’s beckonings. He has no intention of allowing Indonesia’s independent position in Southeast Asia to be undermined by “ ping-pong “ diplomacy ”.