Take a Closer Look on the Brand-New China: A Report from Ambassador Talks UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta

Hi everyone! Such a long time, huh?

***This will be quite a serious post, so... Tighten your seatbelt!***

Before I begin my post, please allow me to let you know that I am now an International Relations (IR) student in Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta. I got enrolled on 2012/2013 enrollment, so, yea... I am a freshman, at the moment. I am currently in the 2^nd smester, and around this midyear I’ll be a sophomore.

I have huge interest in China. Please note that it’s not because I look like one, no... Well, that’s a fortunate descendant, I would say... But, no. China has always caught my attention since the first time I majoring in IR, because of many facts, or I’ll mention the top 3 in here. First, it’s the fact that China’s diaspora conquers more than 1/5 (rough) of the world’s population, and... THAT’S A LOT! Second, the fact that Chinese are heavily spreaded all around the world, and amazingly they survived; they ALL survived. Ask me this question, “can you name a country which doesn’t have Chinese in between the members of their community?”, and I would firmly answer, “none.” And the third, and this is my ultimate reason to adore China is that, Chinese, they don’t stop with only “surviving”, they “assimilating”; Chinese tend to have good way of life, making them philosophically a huge success; and it goes in line with the financial, influential, and political success they achieve.

When it came the news that head of IR dept, Mr Kiky Rizky (click here to know him more!), is inviting ambassador of People’s Republic of China (PRC) for Republic of Indonesia to come to our regular “Ambassador Talks” mini-seminar campus program, you cannot imagine how excited I was. Not to mention I am a huge fan of Mao Tse Tung, Deng Xiao Ping, and other Chinese influential figures. I am also a huge fan of Mr Basuki the vice governor of Jakarta Capital Region, who also happened to be a Chinese descendant. I have always admired the way China (PRC, in specific) reformed its economic system, but still able to defend themselves with their very own ultimate identity. I read books that tells briefly about philosophy of Zheng He, the Chinese “peaceful conquerer”; about Henry Pu Yi, “the last emperor”; about Empress Orchid, the mother, the great queen dowager that once ruled the land of China; and some few other books about China. In short, China in general, and PRC in particular, are my area of interest.

Ambassador Talks on People’s Republic of China took place in auditorium of Faculty of Social and Political Science Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta, on Monday, May 27^th. The keynote speaker was Mr Ambassador Liu Jian Chao (FYI, Mr Liu is an Oxford graduate majoring in IR. Yeay, IR!!!). The topic for the day was “Lesson Learned from Chinese Economic Reforms”.

This is somehow very interesting, as Indonesia share quite a number of similarities with China. China and Indonesia, each, host an extremely high number of population that are very diversed in culture. Indonesians and Chinese, as a very communal community, share similar social values, cooperation and humbleness are some to mention. The condition of both giant entity, as a country and as a huge social community, (can also be said) quite the same. They both departed from traditional values that embrace family matters (like fathers go farming and mothers stay at home making meals and doing chores) and moving, slow but sure, to modern life with all its values.

In spite of those facts, what makes China grow more rapidly compare to Indonesia? What significantly differentiates Indonesia and China, in the context of Economic Reforms? Well, you may find the answer through the utterance of Mr Liu, which is exactly what I am about to post here.

Mr Kiky Rizky (left) and Mr Liu Jian Chao (center) // Source: RMOL.co

Ambassador Talks with Ambassador of People’s Republic of China: Mr Liu Jian Chao

Mr Ambassador Liu Jian Chao opened his presentation by telling that “People can grow old, but country, including China, and Indonesia, remains young and fresh.”

Mr ambassador highlighted that he’ll be pointing out 7 values in his speech, the values China embrace in moving towards development as we see today. Those values are Civilization, People, Change, Openness, Stability, Peace, and Independence.

Civilization. Chinese have been living its land for 5000 years. Its civilization is undoubtedly established. Mr Liu pictured China’s civilization as strong and properous, which is extremely important to be possessed by every civilization, mainly in living today’s era of globalization. One key factor for this is the high-level democracy that is embraced by China.

People. China has a huge manpower.World’s biggest population is People’s Republic of China, which happens from time to time and the position has never been replaced by any other country ever. Hosting 1/5 of the global population, China sees it fit to look upon the development of China as the development of the world, and the setbacks of China as the setbacks of the world. It’s natural. And this is motivated by the former key point, which is civilization, particularly democracy. This state of China’s well-being can only be achieved by adopting democracy, positioning people as the center of everything, allowing people to come and join the “boat” in sailing towards development.

Change. There were setbacks China experienced, and they... Changed. China was colonized, but the Chinese fought back, and they changed. They experienced a different form of government before the established one the world knows today, they changed. The ultimate, and still effectful one, is the economic reforms of 1978; China, once again, changed. Moreover, it is to be noted that the changes towards betterment is not the work of a particular individual, but the people and their values. China was very poor, but with ethics of hardworking, strong leadership, and right method of development, China changed. One thing that still attached in my mind is when Mr Liu said, “China never refused to change.” I also like the twist Mr Liu made. Despite the tremendous changes China made, there’s one thing remained. The target. China has been, is, and will always be changing; but the target remains unchanged.

Openness. China was very infamous for its closeness. And this, according to Mr Liu, was because the threat from international environment China felt. But again, they changed. And now, China become very much open, and has been focusing all efforts for social-economic development. There are 3 benefits of the “newly-brand” China, 1) Change in mindset, 2) Country’s development by welcoming tremendous foreign experts and investments, 3) Innovativity and creativity, which is the core points of why China respects the idea of liberal international state, and against protectionism. In marking its openness, China joined World Trade Organization (WTO) and now, 15  years after joining WTO, China successfully become the world’s largest automobil producer, with 18 mills production last year.

Stability. China puts stability as a vital point in guarding the changes. Changes, reforms, and transformations in China brings to the surface 2 sides of coin, opportunity and challenges. And this is where the stability takes part. Mr Liu uttered out a theory of development: development, reforms, and stability, are very closely connected to each other. They are the pre-conditions for each other as well as the results of each other. This is very interesting, Mr Liu approached that development cannot be achieved without reforms and stability, and at the same time development creates a better stability and supports reforms. The same pattern applies for reforms and stability.

Peace. In going through the major changes, China keeps it in peace. There are 2 types of peace, inward and outward. China participates in both. Inward, China maintains peace in between its people, its territory, inside its borders. Outward, China actively and consequently maintains the world peace. As a new emerging economic country, Mr Liu was disturbed by the term “superpower” addressed to China. This is due to past events, where the countries labeled “superpower” were creating chaos. Superpower are closely related to hegemony on power politics (a bully, for instance), and this is against the China’s idea of peace. The new China believed in multiculturalism, internationalism, and world harmony. China, through its ambassador, clearly voiced out that cooperation, not competition, will benefit all parties and will grow the mutual wealth.

Independence. Independence is very important in Mr Liu’s point of view. This is what makes China stands out. Despite all the foreign values coming in to China as a consequence for being open, China believes that all countries are equal. And though interacting with other values and civilization is unavoidable, (even often beneficial, in today’s era,) it is very essential to keep an independent thinking. This concept is based on the fact no other knows China best besides Chinese, or Indonesia and the Indonesians, or Thailand and the Thais, or Sweden and the Swedish, and so on. Mr Liu also stated that China believed that there is no universal solution for all problems, and thus every nation must have their own independence to solve their own problems. In addition, if we look further in to the deep of China, this particular position is rooted from how the people are being viewed by the country. China, as a country, embraces the right of people as the world’s citizens to choose their own policy, including Chinese to China.

After creating quite an impression (which contained some few claims) about the fresh China values, Mr Liu also bring forward, in a brief, the cooperation established between Indonesia and China. He said that Indonesia is a top priority for China’s foreign cooperation due to 2 major factors, the shared values between Indonesia-China, and the economic roles of China and Indonesia which are complementary to each other. He also stated that Indonesia and China has gone to the extent of education and culture cooperation, and number of exchanges in people’s visits.

Mr Liu Jian Chao (center) and Me (second from right)

Question Session

The presentation was followed by question session. Enthusiasm of attendees was very high, seen from 12 questions being raised just in a session as short as 45 mins. Some of them are very related to the topic (which is economy), but it’s not none who raised questions about political condition regarding China, inside the country and out. Apart from that, the questions were very interesting, not to mention, some are intriguing. And... (Okay, it is waaay riffle, but...), 3 of them was mine, 2 economy, 1 politic. *fingerpeace*

The question was about, 1) Free Trade Area, 2) China’s peculiar economy system, 3) BRICS, 4) Korean peninsula crisis, 5) Death sentence on corruptors, 6) China-United States economy rivalry, 7) global peace, 8) one child policy, 9) peace in regions, 10) crisis in Africa, 11) environment, and 12) Tibet crisis.

Free Trade Area. Alongside with China’s economic shift, the foreign policy was also shifting. The China now, actively inititates and participates in Free Trade Area. The one Indonesia also involves is ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). This is important, with the theory of economy cooperation in form of institution and integration as its base. What’s quite uncommon was Mr Liu’s comment on role of Indonesia as consumer market and China as producer. He stated that Indonesia as consumer market is making a pretty good impact, both for China and Indonesia. China obviously gains profits, while for Indonesia, the economy shows high activity; because basically, foreign economy cooperation seeks benefits from 3 sources: Tax, Revenue, and Employment.

China’s peculiar economy system. As we all know, China’s attitude on economy is odd. China’s core ideology is socialism, but its reform adopted capitalism practices. To clarify this, Mr Liu stated that socialism is the major plan, while capitalism is the market system; and yes, it definitely works. Moreover, they’re plain models with no corelation with any ideology base. He also uttered that the so-called capitalism brings forward the benefit of economy in various sectors: labor force, productivity, and trade.

BRICS. Most recent economic institution that accomodates economic cooperation initiated by China is BRICS, stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. China is highly interested in organizing economic cooperation, and altogether with the other 4, China shared same role as world’s new emerging economy countries. It was driven by mutual interests of the 5 countries to develop economy, internationally and domestically. To answer the suspicion claiming China trying to make a new hegemony, Mr Liu explicitly specify BRICS as not exclusive. It’s open for other party to engage in joint-cooperation with BRICS, including Indonesia.

Korean peninsula crisis. This is the question of everyone’s, I believe. Mainly with all China’s attitude towards North Korea’s (almost-)war-declaration against the South and its biggest ally, US. Apparently, “double” role playing is what best described the country’s attitude towards the crisis. China, as the biggest power in Asia Pacific, stands as an ally for the North; but at the same time, China supports sanction posed on the North by US, EU, and several other parties. Mr Liu made it straight that China supports the world peace, and is heavily against nuclear threat from the North. This also explained the involvement of China in Six-Party Talks. However, Mr Liu was also straightforward about how China is unwilling to abandon North Korea. This closely relates to China’s concern in North Korea’s deep shortage of trust to US. And here’s the ultimate question, where China stands? Responding, Mr Liu implied that China supports peace civilization, and that determination is needed. China’s biggest objective is reconciliation of the conflicting parties: persuading US to guarantee safety of North Korea’s citizens on one side, and raising North Korea’s awareness that it is crucial to having an open market and to realizing that nuclear is not the answer for security on the other.

Death sentence on corruptors. Corruption is one big systemic problem faced by Indonesia and China. It hampers each country’s development, as they currently undergo economic development. While China has been a step ahead of Indonesia by posing death sentence on corruptors, the effectivity of this policy remains questioned. Mr Liu agreed that corruption practices needs to be eradicated immediately, and that’s why law enforcement for this crime is needed. However, it should be highlighted that China embraces the concept of human rights as much as other countries do, and that death penalty is one out of numerous alternatives exist. That’s why he bring forward 3 ideas to fight corruption: 1) Obedience of the people and the media, 2) Education for govt officials, 3) Comprehensive anticorruption mechanism that includes prevention, detection, and punishment.

China-United States economy rivalry. Before we go into this issue, let’s take a look on comparison of both China and US economy. China’s current GDP is 1/3 of US. Try to compare it with what China had 12 years ago, 1/10. Healthy development, uttered Mr Liu, has always been the target of China’s economy reform. It is extremely rapid that outside parties tend to misinterpret it as China’s effort to become world’s number one economy. Also, China believes in cooperation. Thus China sees its economy relations with US as competition, and not rivalry.

Global peace. As you have come this far, you must have found that peace is the focus of China’s general platform. It covers 2 essential aspects, namely: economy and security. You may refer to Mr Liu’s point about peace in his speech above. In addition, it is crucial for China to maintain global peace as international relations is entering multipolarity stage. This condition, being not against by, results in peace; and it never was, and will never be, China’s intention to ravage this harmony.

One child policy. High population doesn’t always serve as China’s biggest power, it’s also China’s biggest problem. As I’ve mentioned, 1/5 of global population is in China. Meanwhile, China’s territory only covers 1/10 of the earth. By this fact, one child policy for each household in China becomes understandable. But this is not included in the reasons why China implements the policy. There are 2 main reasons instead. First, China respects dignity of its people, and by that, China gives out full efforts to give a better life to those who live below living standards. China realizes that it cannot be done unless prevention mechanism is made. Secondly, this regulations helps China ensuring its national development is going on the right track. (And FYI, one child policy only applies in urban areas.)

Peace in regions. This question was raised as everyone’s curious about China’s point on view on crisis that happens in Syria, Mali, Nigeria, and other conflicting parts of the world; not to mention the problematic South China Sea (SCS), which includes China and ASEAN. Answering this question, Mr Liu reiterated that it’s world’s interest to keep both regional and international peace, including China. For China, mainly, it’s part of the country’s concern to support world’s rapid economic growth. Besides, China also focuses on finding solution for territorial disputes through peaceful means, including conflict in SCS. China, through Mr Liu, undertakes peaceful stand to solve the SCS problem. To prove its willingness, China has been working with ASEAN to establish peace in SCS.

Crisis in Africa. Mr Liu’s comment about the prolonged crisis on Africa, the land of hope, is clear. China is struggling to establish peace in all parts of the world, including Africa. China shows strong commitment by helping countries in Africa to build infrastructure, mining, and healthcare and education center. For the concrete support, China participated in China-Africa Summit on 2006.

Environment. China’s environmental issue has been capturing international attention as they’re advancing to industrialization. China is never reluctant to solve this issue. In fact, it is within China’s interests (and targets) to preserve the environment. Shifting of energy resources from coal to solar energy and strict regulations for industries are some of the way. The biggest target of China in environment sector is increasing energy efficiency by 40% in 2040.

Tibet crisis. China consists of people who practices various religions, so it is fallacious to question freedom of beliefs there. Also, China’s democracy system allows people to have freedom of speech. Tibet crisis is never about freedom of beliefs or speech, it’s separatism. And China’s attitude on separatism is very firm, it never allows any disputes within its territory.

Through all the speech given by Mr Liu Jian Chao during the presentation and question sessions, it is clear enough that China is reforming. It embraces values of development. The values are big dream, adaptivity towards changes, peace, openness, and active participation in international integration and cooperation focusing on partnership.

Me (Left) and Mr Attaché Bao Jun (Right)

All in all, Ambassador Talks on People’s Republic of China held by International Relations department Faculty of Social and Political Science Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta was a huge success. It was a very rare opportunity to listen to explanations directly given by Mr Ambassador Liu Jian Chao. There were several eye-opening moments that enrich my knowledge about China. Moreover, I become more and more amazed of China!!! It is my hope, while still young, to visit China and to pursue futher study there. Wish me luck, guys! I wish you all fellow youth best of luck, too. Just like Mr Liu’s toast-proposal: “Cheers for the immortality of the youth!”

NB:
*Questions in this color was raised by me, just so you know.
**I hope someone from PRC Embassy read this (Haha!)