Condi Gives Indonesia's Military 'the High Hat'

What was Condoleezza Rice doing in Indonesia and Australia over the past few days? According to this analysis from Taiwan's China Times, Ms. Rice very quietly lifted the arms embargo on Indonesia, held semi-secret talks with Japan and Australia, but failed to assuage Australian dissatisfaction with the offhanded way it has been treated by Washington.

Translated By Haywood Ho

March 20, 2006

Taiwan - China Times - Original Article (Chinese)

To face the new global situation, America's foreign and defense policy is now quite obviously switching gradually from a "Europe First" ideology toward Asia.  After Bush's visit to India and Pakistan, Secretary of State Rice flew directly from Chile in the Southern Hemisphere to Indonesia, and will visit Australia next weekend, where a Trilateral Security Dialogue amongst America, Japan and Australia will be held. Taiwanese newspapers have focused less on her visit to Indonesia, however.

Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation. Previously, the underground fundamentalist Islamic organization, Jemaah Islamiya [An Islamic religious group classified by the U.S. as a terrorist organization] had been actively encouraging and fanning anti-American and anti-imperialistic sentiment within the population, and had been recruiting adherents. The group was behind the bombings in Bali and Jakarta and has close ties to al-Qaeda.  After two years of close cooperation between the intelligence agencies of Indonesia, America, Australia and Thailand, the leader of the group, Riduan Isamuddin ("Hambali") was finally arrested.  President Bush and Australia's John Howard happily proclaimed this as the biggest anti-terrorist prize in Asia. From this, we can see the importance of the clerics in Indonesian society.

Jemaah Islamiya's mission is to create a pan-Islamic nation encompassing Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore and the southern parts of Thailand and the Philippines. If successful, that nation's population would surpass that of any in the Middle East. Even though most Indonesians are Muslim, they are not very extreme, and for Jemaah Islamiya to swallow Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore would not be easy.  Five years ago, the Indonesian government and military categorized the group as a terrorist organization, and sent troops to surround its headquarters. After Hamabli was arrested in Thailand and handed over to the CIA (perhaps now imprisoned at Guatanamano Bay), Jemaah Islamiya disappeared.

After such anti-terrorist cooperation, Secretary Rice gifted the high hat of "Strategic Partner" to Indonesia.  She first held a joint press conference with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, and then spoke at the Indonesian World Affairs Council.  Last Friday, she met with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.  She also donated $8.5 million to translate "Sesame Street" into Bahasa Indonesian, which can be seen as an act of cultural cooperation.

But Rice's biggest gift to Indonesia on this journey, which she failed to mention in public, was the cancellation of America's military embargo on Indonesia (which had been imposed due to aggressive Indonesian military actions in East Timor.  East Timor has since declared independence and has joined the United Nations. And since the Indonesian military plays such a prominent role in Indonesian politics, to court the friendship of Jakarta, one must gain the support of the military. Sooner or later, America would have had to make this move, and present this gift without charge.

In Rice's joint press conference with Indonesia's foreign minister, an angry reporter repeatedly asked why America didn't allow Indonesian officials to meet with Hambali, and why, if America gave so much help to Indonesia in terms of developing democracy and the economy, anti-Americanism in Indonesia hasn't decreased but has rather increased?  Rice could only provide the standard answer. Luckily, there was a restriction on the number of questions; the next reporter asked a question concerning Iran's nuclear weapon program, and the issue was never raised again.

Thursday afternoon, Rice arrived in Australia's capital and hurried to President Howard's dinner gala to hold a meeting with the cabinet's National Security Committee.  On the second day, she held a meeting with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who had earlier made a statement differing in tone from America. The day before, during an interview with SkyNews, he said that Australia would not support policies to contain China: "I don't believe that such policies would have any result, or be constructive at all."

Of course, Downer had reasons for his words. Australians have never felt fully appreciated as an important ally of the U.S. Rice had originally intended to visit in January, but cancelled, giving "too busy" as an excuse.  America's last ambassador to Australia left his post two years ago, but has yet to be replaced. Downer's outburst was also half intended for China. But on Friday during his own press conference with Rice, John Howard contradicted his stance by publicly proclaiming and reaffirming Australia's tough stance on terrorism, and that were no problems in cooperation between the two nations.

Rice also said to The Australian  that America was not pursuing a policy of "containing China." She emphasized that trilateral talks held over the weekend [America, Japan and Australia] were not aimed at any specific nation. She said that the agenda for the talks were broad, including Iraq, Iran and North Korea to the situation in the Pacific Rim, and that all of these issues were pertinent to the three nations. Though her words sound reasonable, it is difficult not to get the impression the situation is growing darker and darker.

As this article went to press, the American Department of Defense Web site contained nothing related to the trilateral talks; we only know from news reports that Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso had arrived in Sydney. Last year the U.S. and Japan held the "two plus two" conference, which ended with great fanfare (although it looked as though they were trying to break the boredom with an atmosphere of excitement).  Rice's  repeated denials further prove that "this land doesn't have 300 teals of gold buried beneath it" [Chinese proverb].  Anyone who doesn't understand America's motive to continually push to control Asian countries is a fool. 

 (This column is published every Monday.)

Chinese Version Below

2006.03.20　 中國時報

美經營亞洲 強調不針對特定國家
陸以正
    為因應世界新局勢，美國的外交與國防重點日益從舊日「歐洲第一」主義轉移到亞洲， 趨勢極為明顯。繼布希總統印度與巴基斯坦之行後，萊斯國務卿上星期從南半球的智利循南太平洋直接飛到印尼訪問，然後在周末轉往澳洲，並將在那裏舉行美、日 本、澳大利亞三國「安全對話(Trilateral Security Dialogue)」會議。對訪問印尼部分，台灣報紙似乎也少有報導。

印尼是世界第二大的伊斯蘭教國家，過去有基本教義派地下組織Jemaah Islamiya（「回教祈禱團」，簡稱ＪＬ）在民間鼓吹反美與反帝教條，吸收黨徒；峇里島與雅加達的炸彈案就是他們幹的。這個激烈反美團體與「基地」 (al Qaeda)恐怖組織關係密切；印尼、美、澳、泰國的情治機構通力合作，兩年前終於逮捕了外號漢巴里(Hambali)的伊撒穆丁(Riduan Isamuddin)，布希總統與澳洲霍華德總理高興得宣稱這是亞洲反恐行動最大的收穫，可見這位印尼籍伊斯蘭教長地位的重要。

   ＪＬ的宗旨是要在印尼、馬來西亞、汶萊、新加坡、乃至泰國與菲律賓的南部地區建立一個統一的伊斯蘭教國家。如果成 功，其土地與人口將超越中東任何國家。印尼大部分人民雖也信仰伊斯蘭教，但沒有那麼極端，要併吞馬來西亞、汶萊與新加坡也沒那麼容易；所以政府與軍方五年 前就宣布它是恐怖組織，派軍圍剿。漢巴里在泰國被捕後，交給美國中央情報局，可能監禁在古巴關達那摩灣美國海軍基地，ＪＬ組織現在也銷聲匿跡了。

    有過這段合作反恐關係，萊斯國務卿這次大方地送給了印尼一頂「戰略夥伴(Strategic Partner)」的高帽子。她先與印尼外長哈桑．維拉尤達會談並聯合舉行記者會，在印尼世界事務協會(Indonesia World Affairs Council)演講，上周五覲見印尼總統尤多約諾。她也捐了八百五十萬美元，幫助電視節目「芝麻街」能配印尼語(Bahasa Indonesia)播出，算是加強兩國文化合作。

    萊斯此行帶給印尼真正的大禮，在她所有公開聲明中未提一字，那就是美國即將取消早在東帝汶獨立 前，因印尼派軍鎮壓，對印尼的禁運武器措施。東帝汶早已獨立，並且加入聯合國了。而印尼軍方在政治上舉足輕重，要爭取雅加達的友誼，必須先獲軍方支持。美 國遲早要走這一步，趁此機會送個惠而不費的禮物，自然皆大歡喜。

    在萊斯與印尼外長的聯合記者會席間，首先發難的一名印尼記者來勢洶洶，不但追問美國為何至今仍不 肯讓印尼官員與被中情局囚禁的漢巴里接觸，還質難說：如果美國在發展民主與經濟建設各方面，已經給了印尼這麼多援助，為什麼印尼人民的反美情緒不但並未減 少，反而有增加的趨勢？萊斯只能以標準答案回答；幸而記者會嚴格限制發問人數，第二位美國記者的重點放在伊朗發展核武問題上，後來也就沒人再逼問了。

    星期四下午，萊斯飛抵澳洲首都，立即應霍華德總理晚宴，與內閣國家安全委員會的閣員開會。第二天 和早先放話與美國採不同調的澳洲外長唐納會談。唐納先一天在接受澳洲SkyNews電視台訪問時表示，澳洲不支持任何圍堵中國的政策，他說：「我完全不認 為那樣的政策會收到效果或具有建設性」。

    唐納放話有他的原因，澳洲人常常感覺作為一個盟邦，未被美國重視。萊斯原定今年元月來訪，藉詞工 作忙碌取消。美國駐澳大使兩年前離任，迄今猶未補派。唐納發牢騷，一半也有說給中共聽的意思。但美國究竟是澳洲最重要的盟邦，星期五霍華德總理還得替他打 圓場，在與萊斯的聯合記者會中，重申澳洲堅決反恐，兩國合作無間。

    萊斯本人也對《澳洲人報》澄清說，美國對中國大陸並未採取「圍堵政策」。她在記者會上，更強調周 末在雪梨舉行的美、日、澳三邊安全對話，並非以任何國家作為特定對象。她說三國間討論範圍甚廣，從伊拉克、伊朗、北韓、到太平洋整體局勢，都與這三個太平 洋國家息息相關。這話固然不錯，但仍難免予人以越描越黑的印象。

    直到本文截稿時，美國國務院與國防部的網站上都還沒有三邊安全對話的任何消息；從新聞中只知道日 本外相麻生太郎已經抵達雪梨。去年曾大張旗鼓的日美安全「二加二」會談，說穿了也無非在營造氣氛而已。萊斯越是否認，越證明「此地無銀三百兩」，美國如此 致力經營亞洲周邊國家，目的何在，不懂的人才真是傻瓜。（本欄每周一刊出）