UNAIR NEWS- We cannot deny that China has the potential to be a superpower nation replacing the United States. Responding to that statement, Agastya Wardhana, S. Hub. Int., M. Hub. Int., as a lecturer in the International Relations department, reviewed the statement into three viewpoints. Capability, Intention, and Indonesia’s response. His viewpoints were presented in a webinar held by UNAIR’s Student Executive Board (BEM UNAIR) through its Foreign Relations Ministry. It was titled “The Rise of China: The Geopolitical of China’s Expansion and Opportunities Indonesia-China Bilateral Relations” and held on Saturday, June 12, 2021.
Capability
Capability is an important factor that can measure a nation’s power. One indicator that can be used to measure a nation’s capability is its economic power.
Economic growth is one of the most important factors that contribute to a nation’s power. The stronger the economy, the more that a nation can do to strengthen its national power.
China can be deemed as one of the strongest economic power in the world. In times of the Covid-19 pandemic, China is still able to have a positive economic growth of 3% when the global economic growth is at negative minus 4%.
“It shows how strong China’s economic power actually is. China is strong at organizing its economy, so even during a crisis, it can still bounce back from it,” explain Agastya. Therefore, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) then predicted that China’s economic power will pass the United State’s Economic power in 2026 or 2028.
Apart from the economy, there are also other quantitative data showing how strong China’s capability is. One of the data shows that China, as a nation, is the world’s largest population. China is also the world’s biggest investment recipient and the third biggest investment provider in 2020. “There is still a long list of China’s quantitative capability,” said Agastya.
Looking at their capability, Agastya said that China seems unrivaled in many contexts. And that very reason is a potential for China’s hegemony toward other nations.
Intention
Quoting China’s 2019 National Defense Paper, China does not want to become a hegemonic power and threaten other countries to gain more influence. “So from it, we can see that China does not actually want to become a hegemony, and it does not want to become a threat to another country as well,” added Agastya.
It is also known from China’s President Xi Jinping’s speech that China wants to contribute to world peace. It was delivered in 2020 when China took part in the G20 meeting or the world’s biggest economic power meeting in the world.
And the Xi Jinping’s speech at the 2021 World Economic Forum. China urges the world to save humankind from the crisis that we are currently facing, and resolve various existing problems.
“This is a narration that is pretty hard for us to understand, but nevertheless, we must remember that intention, what they wanted. According to Xi Jinping, China does want to contribute to the world’s development, increasing global peace, and other things. Regardless of the criticism and suggestions that it gets, but this is what they wanted,” explain Agastya.
China is really helpful to other countries from an economic point of view, including Indonesia. But according to Agastya, Indonesia must be careful in dealing with that fact.
Indonesia’s response
Agastya explained that it is okay for Indonesia to welcome an agreement with China, as long as there are accountability and transparency. “There are some lessons to be learned by Indonesia, we can have a good relation with China, but we have to be careful. We have to be transparent, and we have to be accountable because we have to learn from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. If the agreement is not transparent, then it may lead to a subversive relation,” said Agastya.
According to Indonesia’s foreign policy that Bung Hatta put forward in 1953, Indonesia must adhere to the “bebas aktif” (free and active) foreign policy. In this context, free means that Indonesia is free to choose a foreign party to conduct cooperation, but we cannot be dependent on them. Indonesia must see its priority, which is to bring benefits to the country according to its need.
“Indonesia and China relation today must be based on the domestic needs of Indonesia, it is an absolute must to meet our domestic needs. Because what is the point of having a foreign policy, if it cannot be used as a tool to meet the needs of the Indonesian people,” concluded Agastya who is also the managing director of Cakra Studi Global Strategies (CSGS).
Author: Fauzia Gadis Widyanti
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia (AC/AP)
