Has anybody considered the likelihood that China might get involved, providing the Papuans with arms and supporting their cause?

"...Given the China threat, we need to foster the goodwill and support of Indonesia rather than getting all sentimental over what a few probably long-dead Papuans did 70 years ago.

The Australian government might have got away (or might not have) with interfering in East Timor, but we cannot keep irritating Indonesia, which must be seen as a strategic bulwark against China."

Indonesia would side with China at the drop of a songkok.

It's about time Australia started to stick up for its mates rather than stabbing them in the back.

If we'd had to fight the New Guineans as well as the Japs in WWII we'd all be speaking Japanese by now.

Dear Is Mise,

China is not in Indonesia's good books at the moment and China has also annexed part of the South China Sea that Indonesia has a claim over. I think at this stage it is more likely that China would back the Papuan separatists in order to get a foothold into territory close to both Indonesia and Australia. Having naval and airforce bases in New Guinea would put Indonesia and Australia within stone's throw and give it an inroad into the South Pacific.

Is Mise It is not the Papuans that dies 70 years ago that matter, it is those that are being murdered now. I have many friends living in the highlands of West Papua, who have studied in Australia and boarded in my home. Several have university degrees, and are leaders in their community.

1. On Papua as part of Indonesia

After Netherlands’ colonization, Indonesia became the legal successor to its territories including Papua.
This is based on the international legal principle uti possidetis juris: newly formed sovereign states have the same borders as before their independence.
In 1969, through the Act of Free Choice the people of Papua reaffirmed that Papua is an irrevocable part of Indonesia. This decision was recognized by the international community through UN General Assembly Resolution 2504.


2. On democracy and human rights in Papua

Wenda claimed that the people in Papua have no right of self-expression. This is not true.
The Indonesian citizens in Papua and West Papua enjoy free & fair democracy.
With its special autonomy, only ethnic Papuans are eligible to be governors and regents in Papua. No other Indonesian provinces enjoy this right.
There never was a genocide committed in Papua. An ICG report in 2006 and a 2018 Lowy article proved false the claim.


3. On the handover of the petition in Geneva

Wenda in September 2018 claimed that he presented the petition to the Chair of the UN Decolonisation Committee (C-24).
However, the Chair of C-24 said that his office was manipulated for political purposes and no petition on West Papua could be accepted.
A similar stunt was again used by Wenda, smuggling himself as part of the Vanuatu delegation to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Indonesia strongly condemns Vanuatu’s action that failed to accord respect to the sovereignty of Indonesia by including Benny Wenda, a known felon, as part of its delegation.