China's New Envoy to Indonesia Faces Multiple Issues
Indonesia’s biggest trade partner is also the country’s biggest problem
By: Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat
Lu Kang, Indonesia's new Chinese ambassador, who earlier this month presented his credentials to the palace, takes over the portfolio at a time when promises and problems are rising in Jakarta given China’s conflicting regional and international interests.
As Indonesia’s foremost creditor, trade partner and direct foreign investor, Beijing is the country’s biggest benefactor. At the same time, China has displayed increasingly aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, especially in the Natuna area which Indonesia claims as its own, to the point that the palace in Jakarta was forced to frequently summon the former ambassador, Xiao Chien, who now heads the Chinese Embassy in Australia, over the issue.
That culminated in Indonesia using jet fighters to chase Chinese Coast Guard vessels and fishing boats out of its waters. At other times, Chinese underwater drones have been discovered mapping inside Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone. Recently, China issued a formal demand that Indonesia stop oil exploration in the country’s own waters, nearly 2,000 km from China’s borders.
In the near future, Indonesia has two main goals -- to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected more than 6 million people and taken 156,000 lives, and to entice badly needed foreign investment. President Joko Widodo has secured a promise from China for assistance in building his new capital city Nusantara in Kalimantan and he is sure to press Lu to live up to those commitments…