第五列から資本家へ-華人・華僑問題とインドネシア-中国関係一九六六-一九九〇-

二〇世紀アジア広域史の可能性

抄録

The shift from Cultural Revolution to Reform and Open Door policy in China had a great impact on the general perception of overseas Chinese within Southeast Asia. It changed the image and value of the Overseas Chinese from “threat” to “entrepreneur.”
This paper focuses on Indonesia-China relations. Indonesia has the largest number of Overseas Chinese population and implemented the harshest policies on the “Chinese Problem” among other Southeast Asian countries in this period. The fear of, and scramble for, overseas Chinese between the two countries were important features of both Chinese and Indonesian politics during the period before normalization of Indonesian diplomatic ties with China. The politics of China's Overseas Chinese policy and the Indonesian government's reaction is another crucial aspect of international relation between China and Southeast Asia.
This paper argues that the crucial shift in perception happened twice both in China and Indonesia. The first shift dated from the Cultural Revolution in China in 1966, which coincided with the regime shift from Sukarno to Suharto in Indonesia. Activist Chinese youth in Indonesia agitating against Suharto, the “imperialist minion”, fueled the view that overseas Chinese were acting as the fifth column of China and were consequently a “threat”. Such a view resulted in severe restriction of their political and cultural rights in Indonesia as well as the abandoning of the diplomatic relationship.
The second shift occurred when both countries began orienting their main agenda toward economic development. Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Open Door policy redefined the Overseas Chinese by transforming the erstwhile “enemies” of class revolution into “patriotic heroes”. The Overseas Chinese Affairs Office was established not only at the central level but also at the provincial and municipal levels, and worked together with hometown networks to attract Overseas Chinese investment to finance infrastructure building in those “hometown” regions (prominently in Fujian and Guangdong). In Indonesia, there were two reactions to this shift in China's policy. One was embodied by Indonesian Chinese capitalist Tong Djoe, who acted as negotiator in opening direct trade between the two countries. (No longer were military personnel appointed to oversee this issue.) The other, a consequence of the drastic fall in oil prices in 1982, underscored the importance of utilizing the Chinese capitalists in non-oil industries for the benefit of Indonesian economy.
Economic development of Chinese “entrepreneur” thus provided opportunities for financing both the Indonesian economy as well as China's economy. This mutual benefit paved the way for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries in August 1990.