The inauguration of Prabowo Subianto as Indonesia’s eighth president on Oct. 20 marks the official beginning of his “good neighbor” foreign policy. He aims to maintain a delicate balance among major powers, while fostering collaboration to achieve peace and stability, and bolster economic cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region. How does Taiwan fit into Prabowo’s foreign policy agenda?
Taiwan is significant for Indonesia due to its role in hosting a substantial number of Indonesian migrant workers. Under his new Cabinet, “merah putih” (“red and white”), Prabowo has established a ministry dedicated to protecting migrant workers. He upgraded the status of the Indonesian Migrant Worker Protection Agency to ministerial level, separated from the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower.
Under the new ministry, Indonesia is expected to enhance migrant worker protection diplomacy with migrant-receiving countries, especially Taiwan.
Despite being the second-most favored destination for Indonesian migrant workers, Taiwan has remained a blind spot in Jakarta’s protection diplomacy agenda. The absence of official diplomatic relations prevents high-level bilateral labor talks between the two presidents, which are essential for demonstrating the moral commitment of the state to migrant workers.
For example, former Indonesian president Joko Widodo last year met with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to discuss migrant worker issues. Such official dialogue between Indonesia and Taiwan is unlikely due to Jakarta’s “one China” policy.
Prabowo’s interest in enhancing the protection of migrant workers in Taiwan is closely tied to the fact that these workers constituted the largest overseas voting bloc for him during the February presidential election, accounting for 80 percent. That makes it paramount for him to return the political favor by enhancing the protection of migrant workers. Improving the security of migrant workers in Taiwan is pertinent to Indonesia, especially with the increasing geopolitical tensions across the Taiwan Strait that risk the lives of the workers should China attack Taiwan.
The failure to protect migrant workers in Taiwan would undermine Prabowo’s legitimacy. These workers play a crucial role as primary breadwinners for their families in Indonesia and vital contributors to the national economy through foreign remittances. As such, Indonesia and Taiwan are expected to establish a “Track II dialogue” to address the stability across the Taiwan Strait and maintain the “status quo.”
Other areas which Taiwan can potentially benefit from Indonesia’s new administration are trade and the digital economy. The appointment of Budi Santoso, the former head of the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office to Taipei, as minister of trade signals the significance of Taiwan as a key trading partner. During his tenure, Santoso promoted Indonesia’s export commodities and explored business and trading opportunities between Indonesia and Taiwan, especially in the agriculture sector, in which Taiwan is leading.
Furthermore, Santoso also praised Taiwan’s advanced technology, which can help Indonesia develop its digital economy. His familiarity and experience with Taiwan are expected to further enhance bilateral trade and economic cooperation, particularly in advancing the stalled proposal of a bilateral economic cooperation arrangement between the countries.
A recent public and elite perception survey issued by Indikator Politik Indonesia, an Indonesia-based research institute, showed that Indonesia should enhance cooperation in culture, tourism and creative industries with Taiwan. In the early 2000s, Taiwanese pop culture dominated Indonesian television thanks to the popularity of the Taiwanese television drama Meteor Garden (流星花園). The iconic bubble milk tea has also leveraged Taiwan’s soft power diplomacy.
As Taiwan prepares to launch the “New Southbound Policy+” under President William Lai (賴清德), it is essential to consider the digital economy and creative industries as crucial components of Taiwan’s economic and soft power diplomacy with Indonesia. The initiative should come together with the proposal to expand Taiwan’s semiconductor network in Southeast Asia. Indonesia has shown interest in attracting semiconductor investment, particularly given the country’s abundant tin and nickel production, which can shore up the global supply chain of chip industries.
The formation of Indonesia’s National Economic Council also signifies Prabowo’s foreign policy priority in achieving economic resilience, which Taiwan can contribute to through economic and labor diplomacy.
Ratih Kabinawa is an adjunct research fellow at the University of Western Australia and a Ministry of Foreign Affairs visiting research fellow.
Having lived through former British prime minister Boris Johnson’s tumultuous and scandal-ridden administration, the last place I had expected to come face-to-face with “Mr Brexit” was in a hotel ballroom in Taipei. Should I have been so surprised? Over the past few years, Taiwan has unfortunately become the destination of choice for washed-up Western politicians to turn up long after their political careers have ended, making grandiose speeches in exchange for extraordinarily large paychecks far exceeding the annual salary of all but the wealthiest of Taiwan’s business tycoons. Taiwan’s pursuit of bygone politicians with little to no influence in their home
In a recent essay, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” a former adviser to US President Donald Trump, Christian Whiton, accuses Taiwan of diplomatic incompetence — claiming Taipei failed to reach out to Trump, botched trade negotiations and mishandled its defense posture. Whiton’s narrative overlooks a fundamental truth: Taiwan was never in a position to “win” Trump’s favor in the first place. The playing field was asymmetrical from the outset, dominated by a transactional US president on one side and the looming threat of Chinese coercion on the other. From the outset of his second term, which began in January, Trump reaffirmed his
It is difficult not to agree with a few points stated by Christian Whiton in his article, “How Taiwan Lost Trump,” and yet the main idea is flawed. I am a Polish journalist who considers Taiwan her second home. I am conservative, and I might disagree with some social changes being promoted in Taiwan right now, especially the push for progressiveness backed by leftists from the West — we need to clean up our mess before blaming the Taiwanese. However, I would never think that those issues should dominate the West’s judgement of Taiwan’s geopolitical importance. The question is not whether
In 2025, it is easy to believe that Taiwan has always played a central role in various assessments of global national interests. But that is a mistaken belief. Taiwan’s position in the world and the international support it presently enjoys are relatively new and remain highly vulnerable to challenges from China. In the early 2000s, the George W. Bush Administration had plans to elevate bilateral relations and to boost Taiwan’s defense. It designated Taiwan as a non-NATO ally, and in 2001 made available to Taiwan a significant package of arms to enhance the island’s defenses including the submarines it long sought.
RSS