OPINION: Indonesian relations with China: Playing it hard, soft or smart?

The Jakarta Post, 2 April 2007.

Russia's "Year of China" has officially begun, following the success of last year's "Year of Russia" in China, which began after Chinese President Hu Jintao's visited to Moscow from March 26 to 28 this year.

The two countries have been exchanging cultural and social "ambassadors" for the last two years. Such efforts have been attempts to bridge the gap between the dynamic progress of the high-level government relationship and the more stagnant development of people-to-people relations.

Throughout 2006, China hosted over 300 Russian cultural and educational events, including several Sino-Russian economic forums with audiences in excess of 500,000 people. In Russia, the plan for 2007 is to have around 200 events Chinese-themed events, ranging from a national exhibition (which being feted as the biggest all-inclusive event held by China abroad for three decades), to media exchanges, cultural festivals and business forums.

The current cooperation was formalized when Hu Jintao met Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 13th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in South Korea in 2005. In March the following year, Putin himself opened a Russian event at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Putin even managed, to an affectionate reception by Chinese media, to exchange some of his black-belt judo moves with kung fu masters in Henan's Shaolin Temple.

Greater media cooperation and educational exchanges are amongst the main strategies to bridge the gap between Russia and China. News agencies have actively increased cooperation. The Chinese state agency Xinhua is cooperating with ITAR-TASS; the Russian newspaper RIA Novosti cooperates with Renmin Ribao; and Radio of Russia has done exchanges with International Radio of China.

Both governments have promised to increase the number of scholarships, exchanges and research grants for students and teachers. Last year Russia sent a large education delegation of 110 representatives from 53 higher education institutions to the China Education Expo to lure Chinese students to the country. In 2006, around 4,000 new Chinese students enrolled in Russian educational institutions. Those numbers are expected to increase as the year progresses.

These have been, to use the term coined by American political scientist Joseph Nye, some of the biggest "soft power" engagements between the two titans so far. Soft power engagement favors attraction and persuasion based on in-depth knowledge and solid understanding between partner countries. Although this mainly entails government-to-government interaction, people-to-people dynamics are also critical. In contrast to the "hard power" of military and economic capability, soft power is about the more subtle use of cultural, social and political values. A well-balanced combination of both hard and soft power would produce something else again: "smart power".

The backbone of contemporary Sino-Russian relations has obviously been the economic and strategic security relationship. Sino-Russian trade reportedly reached a record high of US$33.4 billion in 2006, an increase of 14.7 percent over the previous year. There has been eight straight years of double digit growth. By 2010, bilateral trade is expected to reach between $60 billion and $80 billion. China's 2006 Foreign Direct Investment in Russia reached $470 million over 736 projects, representing a 131.5 percent year on year increase. China has pledged $12 billion of investment in Russia by 2020.

In 2005 the two countries, who share 4,300 km of border, managed to settle four decades of negotiations over their shared frontier. "Peace Mission 2005" was held in August, with 9,000 Russian and Chinese troops conducting an eight-day exercise along China's northeastern coastline, the first such exercise since Sino-Soviet relations collapsed in the late 1960s. Both countries have established a strategic regional security structure, along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Russia has also been one of China's main sources for advanced military hardware.

Although their efforts have not been without complications, both countries have consciously strived to put the hard and soft power balance between them in tune.

A lot can be learned from Sino-Russian engagement.

How smart has Indonesia been with China so far? China's soft power charm offensive is underway in Indonesia, though not to the same extent as in Russia. But the Indonesian government is still apparently reluctant, if not overly suspicious, toward these overtures. This is holding Indonesia back from fully benefiting from China's dynamic growth.

When the government clogged up its soft power channels with China in the 1970s, Indonesia suffered a great loss of access to knowledge for at least three decades. Even now with that blockage over, Indonesia still continues to dawdle.

Over a dozen Indonesian teachers who toured the Chinese province of Fuzhou recently, under the support of the Ministry of Education, emphasized again and again the importance of such programs. Exchanges like this build the human resources to properly engage with Chinese investors, and also contribute to better cross-cultural understanding and better relations between the two countries. The program, to their regret, only lasted for three months, barely enough time to grasp the full depth of the language and culture of China.

Nye mentioned several forms of institutionalized soft power, namely: cross cultural learning, foreign language competencies and study abroad programs. There have already been some on-going efforts between Indonesia and China in various sectors, such as education, culture and tourism.

But more should be done. Joint efforts between government and the private sector should go beyond mere window dressing like the recent Chinese New Year celebration attended by President Yudhoyono, which highlighted 50 years of Sino-Indonesian cultural cooperation.

Further comprehensive exchanges will have to occur, while at the same time the basic infrastructure for soft power engagements will have to be built. We've done it he hard way. Now it's time to try the soft way, combine them together, and do things the smart way.

The writer is a researcher in the Department of Politics and Social Change at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta. She is currently on leave and is based at the International College for Chinese Studies, Fujian Teachers University, Fuzhou, China.

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·环球时报国际论坛：周边稳，则中国安

印度尼西亚《雅加达邮报》4月3日文章，原题：印尼应如何处理对华关系：强硬？温和？巧妙？ 继去年中国举办“俄罗斯年”之后，“中国年”也已在俄罗斯拉开帷幕。在过去的两年中，两国互换文化和社会大使。这些努力是为了弥补火热的高层关系与相对停滞的民间关系之间的差距。

去年，中国共举办了300多场俄罗斯文化和教育活动。今年，俄罗斯也将举办约200场以中国为主题的活动，包括国家展、媒体交流、文化盛会和商业论坛等。

用美国政治学者约瑟夫·奈发明的词汇来说，这些是中俄两个大国之间“软实力”的接触。这促成了两个伙伴国之间以知识和理解为基础的相互吸引。尽管这主要是政府与政府之间的行为，但民间动力也十分重要。与强调军事和经济实力的“硬实力”相比，“软实力”是指文化、社会和政治价值观的力量。二者的平衡结合将产生“巧妙的力量”。

我们可以从中俄关系中学习到很多东西。

到目前为止，印尼处理对华关系有多巧妙？中国的“软实力”魅力攻势正在进入印尼，但政府明显不愿意接受，这将妨碍印尼充分地享受中国增长带来的益处。自从20世纪70年代印尼政府阻断了同中国的“软实力”交流渠道之后，印尼在30年的时间里一直蒙受损失。甚至在这种障碍消失后，印尼仍然在混日子。

在教育部门的支持下，最近有几十名印尼教师到中国福建省交流，他们一遍又一遍地强调这种项目的重要性。遗憾的是，这个项目仅持续了3个月，根本不足以全面领会中国的语言和文化。

约瑟夫·奈提出了使“软实力”机制化的几种方法：跨文化学习、外语能力和海外留学项目。现在，印尼和中国在教育、文化和旅游等领域已经开始付诸努力。但是，我们需要做更多的工作。两国政府和私人企业不应仅满足于做表面文章，如苏西洛总统参加中国新年庆祝活动等。两国之间应该有更全面的交流。我们还需要建设“软实力”交流的基础设施。过去，我们用的是硬的方式，现在我们应该尝试温和的方式，并把二者结合，以巧妙的方式推进交流。▲

（伊文译）

《环球时报》 (2007-04-04 第06版)