The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results[COMMENTARY] 1989: When Soeharto totally changed his mind on China
Beijing needed a diplomatic breakthrough from Indonesia, the largest member of ASEAN. Indonesia was also important, because Singapore and Brunei would only formalize their relations with China, after Indonesia did so.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Set as preferred source
O
n Feb. 24, 1989, leading Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun ran a shocking scoop on its morning edition’s front page that president Soeharto would meet Chinese foreign minister Qian Qichen in Tokyo on the sidelines of the funeral of emperor Hirohito. Japanese prime minister Noboru Takeshita was very excited as Soeharto would meet Qian Qichen at Imperial Hotel that day to discuss the normalization of relations between the two countries, which Soeharto froze for about 22 years.
Takeshita was delighted by this unexpected development, because Soeharto chose Tokyo as the venue of the historic encounter. The timing was also perfect. Many countries accused the emperor of war crimes for being the Japanese supreme leader during World War II, which, of course, Japan denied. The meeting would bring a great moment of peace to Japan.
Soeharto replaced Sukarno in 1967 and soon severed relations with China, which officially began on June 9, 1950. Soeharto accused China of abetting the aborted coup attempt blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) on Sept. 30, 1965, which Beijing strongly denied.
The period from Soeharto’s dramatic turnaround in 1989 until the complete resumption of Indonesia-China relations one year later is one of memorable events for me as a journalist. As an Asahi reporter I obtained more scoops from Soeharto’s side about the restoration of the diplomatic ties, honestly, simply because I was lucky. I called myself an “accidental hero” for that reason.
A few days before Soeharto’s departure for Tokyo, the powerful state secretary, Moerdiono, announced in a standing press conference the itinerary of Soeharto’s visit to Japan and the list of foreign leaders who wanted to meet him.
When Moerdiono named Richard von Weizsäcker, I moved to his back to peep the right spelling of the West German president. I was shocked to see Chinese foreign minister Qian Qichen also on the list. Before entering his car, Moerdiono warned me against leaking “the very top state secret” information, or else I would face serious consequences. I nodded, because I was afraid of Moerdiono.
When Asahi finally published the information, Soeharto suddenly won attention from Japanese and international media. Later, Moerdiono told me he was happy with my scoop. He later on nicknamed me Munir, which actually I did not like.
