Beijing, Taipei, and the Emerging Suharto Regime

Abstract

This chapter studies how the 1965 regime change in Indonesia gave rise to a new round of Red-versus-Blue competition. As Suharto's authoritarian rule replaced the Sukarno-PKI alliance, the cross–Taiwan Strait politics between the two Chinas became intertwined with the anti-Communist campaign and mass violence in Indonesia. The suspension of Sino-Indonesian relations reflected the paralysis of PRC diplomacy and greatly contributed to the growing sociopolitical mobilization during the early stages of the Cultural Revolution. The popular misperception in Indonesia that the PRC had sponsored a Communist coup was bolstered by the violent clashes between the PRC's Indonesian diplomatic mission and right-wing youth; the Red Guards' retaliatory attacks on the Indonesian diplomatic compound in China; the inflammatory broadcasts of Radio Peking; and the fiery tirades in the People's Daily against Suharto. Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist government in Taiwan capitalized on the golden opportunity provided by the anti-Communist fervor in Indonesia, which had been fueled by the fall of Sukarno, the demise of the Indonesian Communists, and the country's turn toward the capitalist West. Ultimately, the political turmoil in Indonesia between 1965 and 1967 gave rise to a period of insecurity for most of the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia.