A Study On The People-to-People Exchange Between Indonesia And China(1998-2020)

People-to-people exchange is cultural communication and exchange activities with people as the main carrier.The research subject of this paper is the people-to-people exchange between China and Indonesia from 1998 to 2020.People-to-people exchange is one of the three pillars of China’s relations with neighboring countries,and it is also an important foundation for consolidating bilateral relations between China and Indonesia,and has an irreplaceable role in other relations.This article takes China-Indonesia people-to-people exchange(1998-2020)as the research object,attempts to summarize the motivations of China-Indonesia people-to-people exchanges during this period,the steps taken by both sides,and the fruitful results achieved,and at the same time analyzes what affecting factors on people-to-people exchange between China and Indonesia still exist during this process,and answer the major issues of how to further promote the people-to-people exchange between the two countries to achieve people-to-people bonds and build a shared community for humanities.People-to-people exchange between China and Indonesia have a history of over a thousand years,and they have become more frequent with the development of the times.From the initial sporadic trade,fishermen taking refuge,refugees taking refuge,religious saints learning scriptures or preaching,to large-scale immigration,and comprehensive cooperation between countries,there was pain and achievement during this period.From the founding of New China and the independence of Indonesia to the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1990,the people-to-people exchange in the past 40 years were mainly influenced by the political pendulum of Indonesia.The situation of people-to-people exchange between China and Indonesia is like ice and fire,big difference:the Sukarno era was often filled with flowers,and the Suharto era was frozen in ice.In 1998,Indonesia entered the era of democratic reform due to regime change.President Suharto,who had been in power in Indonesia for 32 years with an iron fist,and who had imprisoned the Chinese culture for a long time because of his resolute anti-communism,resigned sadly.Since then,in the past 20 years,Indonesia,the "country of a thousand islands" with the fourth largest population in the world and the largest economy in ASEAN,has continuously warmed up its relationship with China,the ancient oriental civilization with the largest population and the fastest economic development in the world and has reached the best period ever.During this period,political mutual trust between the two countries has gradually increased,economic and trade cooperation has become increasingly close,and positive interactions,mainly in cultural and educational exchanges have become more frequent until the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership.Since the establishment of the China-Indonesia Deputy Prime Minister-level people-to-people exchange mechanism in 2015,the two sides have accelerated practical cooperation in education,science and technology,culture,health,media,sports,youth,tourism,women,think tanks,archaeology and other fields by focusing on the alignment of the development strategies of the two countries.Since the second decade of the 21st century,people-to-people exchange between Indonesia and China have seen unprecedented scale and opportunities,due to Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s ambitious plan to build Indonesia into a global maritime fulcrum,encountered China’s,"One Belt One Road" initiative of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Economic Belt.Both parties benefit each other.Indonesia can use the funds promised by China to develop infrastructure and natural resources to build a global maritime fulcrum,and China can use Indonesia as an important node country to connect the three continents of Europe,Asia and Africa from the sea,forming an economic and trade exchange and super infrastructure construction capacity closed loop from sea to land.In terms of effects,the people-to-people exchange since the resumption of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1990 have become popular in the "Belt and Road" period.Through extensive exchanges,the people of the two countries have gradually become connected with each other;through in-depth exchanges,the elites of the two countries,especially the Indonesian elites,let go of their guards and seek benefits pragmatically.Indonesia increasingly feels that the "China threat" is fading away,and it is ushering in the "China opportunity".But related problems also emerged.In Indonesia,due to political pluralism,strong religious power,residual anti-Chinese sentiment,and the influence of Western values,there are both "cold eyes" and disruptors waiting for an opportunity in the upsurge of people-to-people exchanges between the two countries.Especially in the global media landscape dominated by Western mainstream media,Indonesia is a subordinate country,and its cognition of China is currently "constructed" mainly through Western mainstream media,especially English-language media,which has painted China’s national image with color.In addition,Indonesian social elites,including officials,scholars,entrepreneurs,and even religious elders,mostly have experience in studying or working in the West.Many of them have a relatively high level of English,but they basically do not understand Chinese or China.Therefore,from a fundamental point of view,the shaping of China’s national image in Western countries still has a profound impact on Indonesia’s perception of China.In addition,Indonesian Chinese and overseas Chinese are a unique variable in China-Indonesia people-to-people exchanges.There is no doubt that the overseas Chinese are the natural intermediaries and natural allies to promote the people-to-people exchange between China and Indonesia.However,when using Indonesian Chinese resources and contacts,we must also pay attention to preventing the negative impact of its limitations:for example,some older Chinese have a guest mentality,and they lack a sense of belonging to Indonesia,which has resulted in a strong speculative mentality.Another example is that some older generation Chinese have a soft spot for traditional Chinese culture,which inevitably leads to a sense of cultural superiority.At present and in the future,China-Indonesia people-to-people exchanges are facing challenges,such as innovating the form of people-to-people exchanges,using social media as the main means of communication,and paying attention to controlling the crisis of public opinion caused by social media.Indonesia is known as the "country of social media in the world".Indonesian people are increasingly relying on social media to obtain information and understand trends.Despite relatively low internet penetration across the country,people in the capital,Jakarta,tweet faster and more often than anywhere else in the world.The emergence of social media and we-media has led to a massive explosion of information.In the instantaneous viral spread,round after round of social media public opinion crises appear,while traditional public opinion management and control methods fail,and traditional public opinion guidance methods are outdated.Especially in Indonesia,there is a lack of a Chinese-style executive-order-type public opinion control mechanism.In addition to language differences,there are also platform differences.Most of the Indonesian social media platforms are international mainstream social media,such as YouTube,WhatsApp,Facebook,Tweeter,and Instagram.These platforms are basically all banned in China.How to connect the two sides is an important issue.