Pacific Island Countries Supporting Papua to Separate from Indonesia: Where Does the U.S. Stand?

Abstract

Pacific Island Countries, such as Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu, have been supporting the separatist movement in Papua, Indonesia. There have been suspicions that great power countries, for example the U.S., are behind them. The research finds out that the U.S. is against the idea of separating Papua from Indonesia because the entailed instability and insecurity will badly affect its mining business in Papua, represented by Freeport. However, by using foreign policy and proxy war framework, this research manages to explain that there is a possibility of a proxy war between the U.S. and China for dominance in the Pacific Islands Region. They ram Indonesia against Pacific Island Countries, with the separatism issue of Papua as the focal point. This research uses a qualitative method, which is suitable for analyzing social and political phenomena. The research data is obtained from secondary data, such as research reports, articles, and publications about the separatism movement in Papua