Its relationship with the overseas Chinese in Singapore is particularly important. These communities will be watching Beijing's reaction to China- bashing in Djakarta. Beijing will react. China is less interested in Indonesia's stability than it is in the region's perception of China's ability to act decisively to protect its interests. That gives it an advantage over the United States that has strategic and financial reasons for stabilizing Indonesia.
China has the easier mission.
China will not permit the United States to act unilaterally nor is it likely to be able to find common ground with the United States for a joint stabilization mission. Thus, if Indonesia falls apart, the possibility for an extended confrontation between China and the United States is substantial. One of the issues is whether the Clinton Administration avoided creating a crisis with China over espionage because it was more interested in good economic relations between China and U.S. economic interests that were administration backers. We need to recall that the other country deeply entangled in the Administration's campaign finance problems was none other than Indonesia. Thus, Indonesian instability could intersect with U.S. domestic politics quite as much as with international strategic reality.