A Beautiful Bridge? Chinese Indonesians in the Time of China’s Rise

The rise of China is often seen as an opportunity for millions of overseas Chinese around the world to act as intermediaries in dealings between China and their respective ‘host’ countries. Indeed, official narratives coming out of Beijing frequently highlight the positive role that the overseas Chinese can play in achieving the ‘Chinese Dream’ and realizing the Belt and Road Initiative. In Indonesia, enthusiasm towards stronger ties with a rising China is certainly evident among many of the country’s ethnic Chinese who in recent times have made concerted efforts to become fluent in Mandarin and to culturally re-orient themselves towards China. Chinese Indonesian business elites are also utilizing their vast guanxi (social/kinship) networks to forge profitable relationships with the Chinese government and businesses. However, considering the long history of anti-Chinese racism and persistent undercurrents of anti-China sentiments in Indonesia, critical questions need to be asked about the potential domestic dangers of closer association between China and Chinese Indonesians.

In this seminar, I examine the relationship between Chinese Indonesians and China in context of three relatively recent phenomena: the revival of Chinese identity politics after the fall of the New Order; improvements in Sino-Indonesian bilateral relationship; and the rise of China. I argue that the case study of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia challenges existing theoretical assumptions about transnational Chinese diaspora formation and the politicized processes of negotiating between ‘home’ and ‘host’ amidst changing geopolitical dynamics. The study also sheds light on the importance of taking into account local Chinese identity politics in analyses of China’s global soft power efforts.