Indonesia’s foreign policy, including its approach to Taiwan, would likely remain unchanged under new President Prabowo Subianto, experts said on Sunday.
Prabowo, leader of the nationalist Gerindra Party, became Indonesia’s eighth president on Sunday after winning 58.59 percent of the popular vote in February’s election.
In his inaugural address, Prabowo pledged to address corruption and poverty in the Muslim-majority country of more than 280 million people.
Photo: Reuters
“In facing the international world, Indonesia chooses a free and active path, nonaligned,” the former general and defense minister told Indonesia’s parliament on Sunday.
Prabowo’s address suggested that he would continue Indonesia’s policy of pursuing its national interests without aligning too closely with the US or China, which academics said would also mean continuity in the country’s foreign policy toward Taiwan.
Titi Anggraini, a lecturer in constitutional law studies at the University of Indonesia, said that Indonesia’s foreign policy under Prabowo, including its approach to Taiwan, is unlikely to differ significantly from that of his predecessor, Joko Widodo.
“Observing Prabowo’s speech during the inauguration, Prabowo emphasized the issue of free and active politics, also his support for the independence of Palestine, so I predict that foreign policy will not change much under Prabowo’s administration,” Titi said, adding that this included the “issue of relations between Indonesia and Taiwan.”
Ratih Kabinawa, an adjunct research fellow at the University of Western Australia’s School of Social Sciences, said “there won’t be any significant change regarding diplomatic recognition” for Taiwan.
Despite the two countries’ lack of formal diplomatic relations since 1950, Taiwan would nonetheless remain “an important country” under Prabowo’s leadership for several reasons, Ratih said.
Prabowo’s appointment of Budi Santoso, the former head of Jakarta’s de facto embassy in Taipei, as trade minister indicates that Taiwan is a “significant trade and economic partner,” she said.
Taiwan’s extensive population of Indonesian migrant workers — more than 280,000, according to the Ministry of Labor — would also continue to be a factor in Indonesia’s foreign policy approach to Taiwan, she said.
The Prabowo family’s “past encounter with Taiwan” has “made him familiar with Taiwan’s issues,” Ratih added, without elaborating.
In February, Eddy Soeparno, then-vice chairman and spokesperson for Prabowo’s election campaign, said that despite lacking formal diplomatic relations, Taiwan and Indonesia had a “very good” relationship, with mutual ties in trade, investment, education and tourism.
Indonesia was Taiwan’s 13th-largest trading partner last year, while Taiwan was Indonesia’s 17th-largest trading partner, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
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