Kingdom era memorial statue in
Sam Poo Kong temple,
Semarang, commemorate the Ming naval voyage to Indonesian archipelago. The relations between imperial China and ancient Indonesia commenced during the 7th century, possibly earlier. Indonesia was part of the maritime
Silk Road connecting China with
India and the
Arab world. Numerous
Chinese ceramics have been discovered throughout Indonesia, suggesting ancient trade links between the two regions. The
National Museum of Indonesia has one of the most complete collections of Chinese ceramics discovered outside of China, dated from the
Han,
Tang,
Song,
Yuan,
Ming and
Qing dynasties, spanning for almost two millennia. This particular collection provides a good insight into Indonesia's maritime trade over the centuries. Research indicates that the Chinese sailed to India via Indonesia as early as
Western Han period (205 BC to 220 AD) as a part of the maritime silk road and firm trade relations were subsequently established. Traditionally, the Indonesian archipelago, identified by ancient Chinese geographer as
Nanyang, was the source of spices such as
cloves,
cubeb, and
nutmeg, raw materials such as
sandalwood,
gold and
tin, as well as exotic rare items such as
ivory,
rhino horn,
tiger fur and bone, exotic birds and colorful feathers. While the fine
silk and ceramics of China was sought by ancient Indonesian kingdoms. Indonesia also played some role in the expansion of
Buddhism from India to China. A Chinese monk,
I-Tsing, visited
Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months during his mission to acquire sacred Buddhist texts from India. Other Chinese accounts and chronicles also mention several ancient states in Indonesia today. Chinese records mentioned about Kunlun sailors, presumably Cham or Malays sailors, that sailed and traded many products across ports in Southeast and South Asia. The Malay sailors are most probably hailed from Srivijayan empire in Sumatra. Ancient Indonesian sailors seem to actively sought trade around Southeast Asia and as far as China and India. Since I-Tsing, numbers of Chinese travelers such as
Chou Ju-kua began to visit and wrote about the Indonesian archipelago. Most ancient Chinese-Indonesia relations were trade-motivated and throughout their shared history, most were harmonious and peaceful, with one exception. In 1293, Kublai Khan of
Yuan dynasty sent a massive expedition of 1,000 ships to Java to punish the defiant king
Kertanegara of
Singhasari. The naval expedition, however, was a failure as Java rose to be
Majapahit empire instead. Maritime empires such as
Srivijaya, Majapahit, and later
Malacca sought trade permits to establish relations with lucrative Chinese markets. The numbers of Chinese immigrants and Chinese influences in the archipelago reached a new height, with the massive
Ming dynasty naval expedition led by admiral
Zheng He that visited Java, Sumatra, and the Malay peninsula in early the 15th century. Zheng He's translator
Ma Huan wrote a detailed description of Majapahit and where the king of Java lived. The report was composed and collected in
Yingya Shenglan, which provides a valuable insight on the culture, customs, also various social and economic aspects of
Chao-Wa (Java) during Majapahit period. The Chinese naval expedition contributed to the establishment of
overseas Chinese settlements in Indonesia, such as
Semarang,
Tuban and
Rembang which have had significant Chinese populations since Majapahit era. During the colonial
Dutch East Indies Company and
Dutch East Indies era, significant Chinese settlers began to fill labor needs and seek a new life in the Indonesian archipelago. Most of
Chinese Indonesian immigrants came from the provinces of
Southern China, such as
Fujian and
Guangdong. Significant
Chinese settlements were established in West Kalimantan, the east coast of Sumatra, and the northern coast of Java. In 1932, China declared that its southernmost territory was the Paracels, not the seas surrounding the Natuna islands.
Post-Independence of Indonesia greeted at Beijing airport by
Mao Zedong flocked by Indonesian-Chinese flags After Indonesia's independence in 1945 and the acknowledgement of its sovereignty from the
Dutch in 1949, Indonesia established diplomatic relations with China (previously with
Republic of China and later with
People's Republic of China) in 1950. It was the first country in Southeast Asia to establish official diplomatic relations with the PRC. During the
Sukarno administration, China and Indonesia enjoyed close relations. In the 1950s to 1960s the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had close relations with their
Indonesian counterparts. Sukarno supported and won the bid for the
1962 Asian Games held in
Jakarta. Political tensions arose when Indonesia refused entry to a delegation from
Taiwan. After the
International Olympic Committee imposed sanctions on Indonesia for this exclusionary policy, due to Indonesia's firm support for the
One China policy. Sukarno retaliated by organizing a "non-imperialist" competitor event to the
Olympic Games, called the
Games of New Emerging Forces (
GANEFO). Sukarno responded by accusing the IOC of being political in its refusal to accept the People's Republic of China; The IOC was merely an "imperialist and colonialist tool." In January 1965, Sukarno,
withdrew Indonesia from the United Nations after accusations that it was "dominated by imperialism." He attempted to establish a rival UN organization called the Conference of New Emerging Powers (
CONEFO) with the support of the People's Republic of China, which was not yet a member of the UN, and he formed a new alliance of Indonesia with the new emergent forces (NEFO) countries with China, North Korea, North Vietnam, and Cambodia which he called the "
Beijing-Pyongyang-Hanoi-Phnom Penh-Jakarta Axis." With the government heavily indebted to the
Soviet Union, Indonesia became increasingly dependent on China for support. Sukarno increasingly spoke of the importance of the Beijing-Jakarta axis. Diplomatic relations however, were restored and resumed in 1990, resulting in the normalization of China-Indonesia ties.
Contemporary history China and Indonesia established diplomatic relations on April 13, 1950, which were suspended on October 30, 1967, due to the occurrence of the
September 30 event of 1965, the subsequent 1967
seizure of power by Lt. General
Suharto which appointed him to the office of acting president, the stepping down of President
Sukarno and the eventual beginning of the
New Order era, which, under Suharto's presidency, would last thirty-two years. Entering the 1970s, relations between China and the West began to improve, especially after the visit of
United States President
Richard Nixon to Beijing after years of US diplomatic policy that favored the
Republic of China in
Taiwan. Previously, this policy was also followed by the acceptance of the
People's Republic of China at the UN. The improving relations between the People's Republic of China and the West certainly influenced global politics at that time, especially Indonesia. In 1985, Indonesia held the 30th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference and invited representatives from countries that had attended the conference since 1955, including China. Chinese Foreign Minister
Wu Xueqian was specially invited to attend the event and as a sign of the warming of relations between
Beijing and
Jakarta. China and Indonesia relations began to improve with the reopening of trade relations between the two countries in 1985.
Bilateral relations have improved since the 1980s. Foreign Minister
Qian Qichen of China met with President Suharto and State Minister Moerdiono of Indonesia in 1989 to discuss the resumption of diplomatic relations of the two countries. In December 1989, the two sides held talks on the technical issues regarding the normalization of bilateral relations and signed the Minutes. Foreign Minister
Ali Alatas of Indonesia visited China on invitation on 3 July 1990 and the two sides issued the "Communiqué on the Restoration of Diplomatic Relations between the Two Countries". Premier
Li Peng visited Indonesia on invitation on August 6, 1990. In his talks with President Suharto, the two sides expressed their willingness to improve relations between the two countries on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence and the
Ten Principles of the Bandung Conference. On 8 August, Foreign Ministers of China and Indonesia on behalf of their respective governments, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the Resumption of Diplomatic Relations. The two sides declared the formal resumption of the diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia that day. China's cautious response to the
1998 anti-Chinese riots caused an uproar among human rights groups. Following protests at the Indonesian embassy in Beijing in August,
Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan made a direct appeal to the Indonesian government to ensure the protection of Chinese Indonesian communities. In July 2012, Indonesia and China conducted a bilateral antiterrorism exercise. In September 2017, two giant pandas, Cai Tao and Hu Chun, arrived in
Jakarta from
Sichuan province to be placed in
Taman Safari in
Bogor as part of the 60th anniversary celebrations of China–Indonesia bilateral relations. == Sovereignty and human rights issues ==