NO MORE TELLING example can be found of how close Indonesia and China have become than the recent treatment of a peaceful march by Falun Gong practitioners in Jakarta.
Despite obtaining police permission, the marchers found their way blocked and consent suddenly withdrawn after Indonesian authorities were contacted by the Chinese Embassy.
"We explained to police and also to some Indonesian Government officials that the Falun Gong is [slanderous term used by Chinese government], Chinese Embassy press officer He Shiqing said. "Their activity is in violation of Indonesian law. No country will allow people from other countries to conduct activities against a third country. So Indonesian parties took some measures to limit their activity."
Jakarta's willingness to stop the march to promote its new-found friendship with China is only one of many signs of increasing closeness between East Asia’s two largest countries. But their cosiness only serves as a dazzling counterpoint to the fraught state of their past ties.
It was China which former dictator Suharto blamed for backing an alleged coup attempt in 1965, rupturing ties established in 1950. Not until 1985
were trade ties re-opened and in 1990, full diplomatic links were finally Restored.
Just over a decade later, President Megawati Sukarnoputri is now in China on a state visit, signing protocols to establish new Chinese consulates in those provincial hubs of ethnic Chinese business, Medan and Surabaya. Indonesian consulates are planned for Guangzhou and Shanghai in return.
A visit by Premier Zhu Rongji last November produced agreements to reopen a branch of the Bank of China in Jakarta. Behind the scenes, the economic deal-making is more intense than ever.
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Foreign Ministry sources insist the bilateral relationship with China is politically "excellent".
"In the political field there are no problems. That is why the emphasis now is on trying to boost trade and investment between us," said a spokesman for the ministry's Asia-Pacific department.
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Vaudine England is the Post's Jakarta correspondent
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