The Relationship between Suharto and China

Suharto is the longest-serving president in Indonesia's contemporary history. During his administration, Indonesia maintained long-term political stability and economic development, so it won the reputation of "the father of construction" in Indonesia. During Suharto's reign, the relationship between Indonesia and China experienced the lowest ebb in the history of bilateral relations, and it was not until1August 8, 990 that the two countries normalized their relations. It can be said that Suharto's views and attitudes towards China did not change much during most of his reign, but his "China view" gradually changed in the later period, which had a great impact on the development of Indonesian-China relations. This paper first introduces Suharto's political career and ideas, then briefly reviews the Sino-Indonesian relations in the pre-Suharto period, then analyzes and summarizes Suharto's "China view" before, during and after, and then analyzes the reasons for the transformation of Suharto's "China view" from three levels: personal level, national level and international level by using analytic hierarchy process. It is believed that Suharto's personality characteristics, personal status changes and interest demands are the reasons, and Suharto's consideration of safeguarding Indonesia's national interests is also influenced by the changes in international background and pattern. Of course, China's positive interaction is also an important reason why Suharto's "China view" has changed. With the change of Suharto's "China view", his attitude and views towards China gradually became positive, which cleared the obstacles for the healthy and stable development of China-Indonesia relations and promoted the further development of China-ASEAN relations. From this, it can be seen that the individual decision-maker can have a great influence on a country's diplomatic decision-making, and the role of the individual in international relations should be paid attention to.