Vietnamese-Indonesian Political Relations 1945-1991

Abstract

Japan's defeat in 1945 brought with it a wave of decolonization across East Asia. This was unexpected for these colonized peoples and their national movements. Many of them decided to declare their independence and form their own national governments, but they were met with reversals by the victorious powers in the war, which returned them to the colonial status they had enjoyed before the outbreak of World War II. Among these countries were Indonesia and Vietnam. The former began a conflict with the Netherlands, while the latter suffered from partition. Hence, the importance of studying the relationship between these two countries after their liberation from colonialism is highlighted. The year 1945 was chosen as the beginning of the study because it marked the end of World War II, marking a new phase in the history of these two countries and their quest for independence. The year 1991, however, marked the end of the Cambodian-Vietnamese War, marking the end of an era and the beginning of a new one in political relations between the two countries. The study is divided into four sections. The first examines the political situation in Vietnam and Indonesia during the Japanese colonial period (1941–July 1945). The second examines the beginning of diplomatic representation and the development of Indonesian-Vietnamese political relations (1945–1972). The third sheds light on Indonesian-Vietnamese political relations after the unification of Vietnam and the Indonesian position on the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia (1973–1985). The fourth section concludes the study, which presents the course of Vietnamese-Indonesian political relations (1986–1998).