He proposed that the Indonesian government release a statement regretting Pelosi’s travel to Taiwan. According to Hikmahanto, the recent actions of the United States have harmed regional stability. First, the United States has been wreaking havoc in a number of places. The most recent example is Russia’s approval of Ukraine’s NATO membership, which resulted in military action against Ukraine. Second, the United States adopts a “double standard” foreign policy.
On the one hand, it condemns the separation of Luhansk and Donetsk from Ukraine, but on the other, it forces Pelosi to endorse Taiwan independence. Third, Pelosi’s journey to Taiwan will lead China and Russia to create an alliance to jointly respond with US provocations, threatening global peace and stability; the conflict in Ukraine will continue, and people will suffer for a long time.
Dr. Connie Rahakundini Bakrie delivered another lengthy speech denouncing Pelosi’s presence. She is a military security specialist in Indonesia who is frequently interviewed on television. Connie publicly denounced Pelosi’s travel to Taiwan in an interview with Metro TV, implying that the US has abandoned the one-China principle and supports Taiwan’s independence. She believes Pelosi’s journey to Taiwan is intended to establish an escape strategy for the United States’ failure in Ukraine.
She feels that the US and its allies failed in Ukraine, that they were unable to beat Russia, and that now that Europe’s energy supply is highly limited, they are searching for countermeasures, so they are looking for other methods to distract their focus and transfer the “battlefield” to Taiwan. She feels that Pelosi’s activities should be condemned in Indonesia as flagrant involvement in foreign and internal issues.
Connie also stated that the United States is now dealing with the Taiwan issue and would soon be dealing with the Indonesian Papua issue. Indonesia must exercise prudence. Indonesia must pay heed to US hegemony. The US is pursuing not just the Indo-Pacific strategy, but also the four-nation plan and the US-UK-Australia alliance. These are all military alliances that are aimed not just at China but also at Indonesia. As a result, Indonesia must exercise extreme caution.
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Connie believes that Indonesia should not only perform the Garuda Shield military exercise with the US, but also with China and Russia, as part of a truly free and active foreign policy. Connie made no mention of China’s activities in the South China Sea or Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone in this interview.
Given the foregoing, it is not difficult to see why many Indonesian diplomatic elites were opposed to Pelosi’s travel to Taiwan. More intriguingly, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry statement stated that “the world needs the wisdom and responsibility of all leaders at this time to ensure peace and stability,” which appears to be a reference to Pelosi’s lack of wisdom and sense of responsibility, which is complicating the situation.
M. Raihan Ronodipuro earned a Master of Law in International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs at Jilin University in China. He serves as an Associate Researcher in the Department of Politics and Security at the Center for Indonesia-China Studies (CICS).