From Singapore comes an unexpected peace offer from Indonesia to end the war in Ukraine. Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto presented his vision for ending the conflict in his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore. A vision very close to a Korean-style peace: an immediate ceasefire, a 15-kilometer demilitarized zone on either side with the dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers.
The Indonesian minister said the demilitarized zone should be observed and then monitored by a peacekeeping force deployed by the United Nations, adding that a UN referendum should be called “to objectively ascertain the will of the majority of the inhabitants of the various disputed areas”. . The latter is the most controversial point, which angers Kiev and Brussels the most.
What is Indonesia’s plan?
After China’s criticized peace proposal, Indonesia’s peace proposal comes. The Indonesian initiative presented during the summit on security in Asia-Pacific is another initiative of the so-called global South, expressing a position far from that of the West but much closer to that of China. Seeking to align with Russia as the spokesperson for a new vision of a multipolar order facing the global South and developing countries, where Beijing and Moscow have found fertile ground to advance and secure their commercial interests).
Indonesia’s proposal came a day after the end of the visit of Beijing’s special envoy for the Ukraine crisis, Li Hui, whose visit to Europe and Russia was announced with great importance by the Chinese leadership. Last week, the US newspaper The Wall Street Gazette He had reported rumors that Li was proposing to his interlocutors a ceasefire that would cede all of Ukraine’s occupied territory to Russia, including those stretching back to 2014. A scenario always rejected by Kiev. Chinese diplomat, meanwhile Chinese Public Diplomacy Association Beijing denied the American newspaper’s revelations, stressing that China was willing to do “everything” to de-escalate tensions as “the risk of war escalating still remains high”.
“Occupied lands in Ukraine to Russia”: Chinese peace plan dictated by Moscow
In detail, the Indonesian plan calls for an immediate ceasefire on both sides, followed by an immediate withdrawal of the army 15 kilometers from existing positions on both fronts. According to the minister, at this point international peacekeeping forces will need to be deployed quickly and “the UN should organize and hold a referendum in the disputed areas to objectively confirm the will of the majority of the inhabitants”.
“Indonesia – Prabowo explained – ready to cooperate by sending his men for possible United Nations peacekeeping operation”. He maintained that such measures “have already proven their effectiveness throughout history” and cited the Korean peninsula as an example. “Yes, the conflict in Korea still doesn’t have a permanent solution, but we’ve had at least some peace for 50 years, which is much better than the destruction and death of innocent people.” Defending himself against criticism, the Indonesian minister said that Asian countries know the cost of war as much or better than their European counterparts, and stressed that Asian countries’ economies and food supplies have been severely affected by this conflict.
Indonesia, which has practiced non-aligned diplomacy, has already attempted to mediate peace between the two warring parties: President Joko Widodo visited Kiev and Moscow and met with Ukrainian and Russian leaders last year while the country headed the G20 group. Indonesia voted in favor of a UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but not imposing economic sanctions on Moscow.
Response from EU and Kiev
But the Indonesian defense minister’s proposal was criticized at the Singapore conference, where a participant accused him of equating the attacker with the attacked. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, criticizing the Indonesian defense minister’s proposal, reiterated that peace in Ukraine must be achieved under acceptable conditions without risking freezing the conflict: “If military support to Ukraine is interrupted, the war will end quickly. But we will find peace of surrender, peace of the fittest. We don’t want it. Europe wants a just peace”, Borrell replied to the Indonesian defense minister, rejecting the peace offer.
The rejection of the Indonesian plan by the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, who was present at the Singapore meeting, was even more explicit: “It looks like the Russian plan, not the Indonesian plan. We don’t need this mediator to come to us with this awkward plan”.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky proposed a ten-point peace plan calling on Russia to withdraw all its troops from Ukraine. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko, who rejected Indonesia’s proposed peace plan after Borrell also rejected it, called on Jakarta to support the Ukrainian president’s peace plan.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
