What is the Chinese Government’s Strategy in the 2024 Presidential Election?

This essay attempts to understand the Chinese government’s strategy in dealing with Indonesia’s “political year” in 2024. When I rode a motorbike from Banda Aceh to Merauke, I saw an industrial area in Sulawesi, which is one of the investment areas of the Chinese government.
Wuling cars, which are Chinese products, are all along the road. Residence for Chinese workers is also very exclusive. When viewed from the satellite, the surface of the land in the industrial area looks like it has a “ringworm.” Because this new industrial area is still trying to dredge the earth, Indonesian workers reach hundreds of thousands. Maybe there are not many Chinese workers either, but they are everywhere.
One of the hallmarks of Chinese investments is that they bring money to the target country for investment and bring in their workers. Their workers, according to some reports, are soldiers or civilians. Of course, China’s arrival of money and workers results from cooperation between the two governments, Indonesia and China. Once they enter, various problems arise, as seen in several journalist reports.
So, before the “paperwork” takes place on the table, there are pre-conditions that the Chinese government must do to invest their funds in Indonesia. They must study the “political weather” in this country. Who has power in the palace? What party has the majority in the parliament building? What is the attitude of business people towards China? Can people accept their arrival in the Nusantara? All answers must be answered and completed measurably. Once the funds and their workers arrive, the Chinese government must think about the benefits obtained in the future.
Therefore, the General and Presidential Elections are “entrances” for the Chinese government’s diplomacy. For power outside the parliament building, they will monitor the strong candidate. The parliament building wants to ensure the election results will not issue a single regulation that can interfere with their investment in Indonesia.
Source: https://www.antaranews.com/ |
For this reason, the Chinese government must ensure that the President, who will be elected in 2024, can guarantee that all of their national interests in Indonesia are safe. Currently, the Chinese state is carrying out an expansion pattern with investments requiring workers from their country. This pattern of expansion can be regarded as a new model of colonization in planetary civilizations. The government should accept cooperation with China as another name for investment, namely debt. Then all goods and people must involve companies from China. Some countries that the behaviour of the colonizer has trapped are called “investments” from China. They have felt the impact of China’s economic behaviour, at least for the lives of the local people.
The Indonesian leader who will be elected in the presidential election in 2024 that is not in favour of China will have severe problems with Chinese “investment” in Indonesia. What is more, the Chinese government will continue to carry out provocations in the South China Sea. This condition will cause the global balance to be disturbed by the ambitions of the Chinese government. In Indonesia, anyone criticising the government’s alignment with the Chinese government will be seen as an opposition group or even anti-government.
Therefore, some countries where China’s investment has successfully entered tend to experience socio-economic problems for residents. In addition, while the Chinese in the 19th century tended to be willing to adapt to local conditions, the Chinese in the 21st century tended to be unwilling to adapt to local needs. This social paradox occurs when 21st-century Chinese are present in villages in the Nusantara. They rarely mingle. Their housing is guarded for 24 hours. The fences of Chinese residential buildings tend not to allow local people to interact. This may not be discussed at the level of policymakers in assessing the presence of Chinese in Indonesia.
In the context of the 2024 presidential election, the Chinese government will feel safe and comfortable if the political party, the winner of the 2019 election, can make their presidential candidate the President of the Republic of Indonesia. That way, all Chinese government projects in Indonesia will not be disturbed by the power transfer in this republic.