Bilateral Relations Between Indonesia and China in The Era of President SBY's Administration

Abstract

This study discusses the effect of China's economic revival on Indonesia's foreign policy orientation. Historically, the relationship between China and Indonesia, which had been severed in 1965 due to ideological conflicts and Indonesia's suspicion of China's support for the Indonesian communist party (PKI), has now been re-establish since the 1990s, which began with China's economic growth. Foreign policy is often caused by a combination of unexpected external forces with unfavorable structural factors. The continued stalemate in China-Indonesia bilateral relations has equally serious consequences for China. China's diplomatic failure against Indonesia has cost China, and that loss cannot be offset by the diplomatic gains generated by the opening of new relations with other ASEAN countries. This study tries to discuss this situation in depth using several approaches to find two variables that become the topic of this thesis: the rise of the Chinese economy and its influence on Indonesia's foreign policy. This research found that Indonesia's bilateral relations with China under the leadership of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ran normatively and without significant fluctuations.