VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Main Expert Staff of the Presidential Staff Office (KSP) Helson Siagian said, Indonesia is building a sustainable and resilient tourism ecosystem. To realize these goals, the government through the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy (Kemenparekraf) created the National Tourism Development Index (IPKN).

"IPKN will be a reference for the implementation of national tourism. Currently, the process of preparing the IPKN has entered the finalization stage," said Helson, in a written statement, Sunday (9/25/2022).

Helson explained, IPKN contains implementation procedures, methodologies, and indicators for the development of tourism ecosystems. The implementation involves multi-stakeholders, namely ministries/agencies, local governments, academia, industry, the community, and the media.

He revealed, in the preparation of IPKN, KSP had recommended three strategic steps in controlling the implementation of IPKN. First, good planning by setting clear and measurable targets.

Second, strengthening the IPKN working group. Where the provincial government is expected to be able to eliminate obstacles to the implementation of development and budget related to the development of tourism ecosystems.

"So the Provincial Government can use IPKN data to build a strategic foundation. In improving the image and tourism services in each region," he said.

The third strategic step is the massive optimization of public communication. This is so that the IPKN achievements can be known and felt by the community.

Helson is optimistic that IPKN will improve the ranking and score of Indonesia's Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) in 2023. TTDI itself is a direct evolution of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) measurement report.

From the overall assessment, in 2021 Indonesia is ranked 32nd with a score of 4.4. The score is on par with Estonia, Poland and Cyprus.

This position made Indonesia jump 12 places from the previous index report in 2019. "With the implementation of the IPKN, our rankings and scores are expected to increase next year," he said, adding. (RRI)

The prime minister of the Solomon Islands complained on Friday that his country had been subjected to "a barrage of unwarranted and misplaced criticisms, misinformation and intimidation" since formalizing diplomatic relations with China in 2019.

In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Manasseh Damukana Sogavare said the Solomons had been "unfairly targeted" and "vilified" in the media. He said such treatment "threatens our democracy and sovereignty."

The Solomons formerly had diplomatic relations with Chinese-claimed, self-governed Taiwan, but switched recognition to Beijing in 2019. It has since appeared to move ever closer into China's orbit, to the alarm of the United States and other Western countries concerned about Beijing's security designs in the Pacific.

"This decision was reached through democratic processes by a democratically elected government," Sogavare said of the recognition of China. "I reiterate the call for all to respect our sovereignty and democracy."

Sogavare said the Solomon Islands had adopted "a 'friends to all and enemies to none' foreign policy."

"In implementing this policy, we will not align ourselves with any external power(s) or security architecture that targets our or any other sovereign country or threaten regional and international peace. Solomon Islands will not be coerced into choosing sides," he said.

"Our struggle is to develop our country. We stretch out our hand of friendship and seek genuine and honest cooperation and partnership with all."

The Pacific islands region has become a new theater of geopolitical competition between China and the United States and its allies.

This competition intensified this year after China signed a security agreement with the Solomon Islands, prompting warnings of a militarization of the region.

Sogavare has since repeatedly appeared to snub the United States, heightening Washington's concerns.

Last month he skipped a planned appearance with a senior U.S. official at a World War Two commemoration. His government then did not respond to a U.S. Coast Guard vessel's request to refuel and then announced he was barring all foreign navy ships from port - while he was welcoming a U.S. Navy hospital ship on a humanitarian mission.

Sogavare has been invited to take part next week in a summit that U.S. President Joe Biden will host with Pacific island leaders, through which Washington aims to show a stepped up commitment to the Pacific region.

Biden's chief policy coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, Kurt Campbell, said this week he looked forward to conversations with Sogavare and said the Solomons would benefit from a variety of planned new initiatives.

However, he added: "We've also been clear about what our concerns are and we would not want to see ... a capacity for long-range power projection."

Beijing and Honiara have said there will be no Chinese military base under the security pact, although a leaked draft refers to Chinese naval ships replenishing in the strategically located archipelago. (reuters)

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss Taiwanese security during bilateral meetings with the leaders of Japan and South Korea when she visits the region next week, a senior administration official said on Friday.

The conversations with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will come days after Chinese officials were roiled by an explicit pledge by U.S. President Joe Biden to defend the Chinese-claimed island. 

"We are very much aligned with our partners and this will be an opportunity for the vice president to discuss the recent developments and the way forward with the leaders of both Japan and the Republic of Korea," the official said. "You can assume that Taiwan will come up."

Harris' trip will include stops in Tokyo and Seoul, the official said, where leaders have warily watched increased tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Washington has also started considering options for a sanctions package against China and other options to deter it from invading Taiwan, sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters earlier this month.

China sees democratically governed Taiwan as one of its provinces. Beijing has long vowed to bring Taiwan under its control and has not ruled out the use of force to do so.

Taiwan's government strongly objects to China's sovereignty claims and says only the island's 23 million people can decide its future.

Biden's comments were the most explicit to date about committing U.S. troops to the defend the island, although the White House insisted its Taiwan policy had not changed. Those statements followed an Aug. 2 visit to Taiwan by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi that also angered China.

In a phone call with Biden in July, China's leader, Xi Jinping, warned about Taiwan, saying, "Those who play with fire will perish by it." (reuters)

A Chinese blockade of Taiwan or the seizure of an offshore island would be considered an act of war and Taiwan would not surrender, a senior Taiwanese security official told Reuters using unusually strong and direct language.

While Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and others in her administration have repeatedly said that while they want peace they would defend themselves if attacked, the details of what Taiwan would consider an attack warranting a response have generally been left unsaid, given the many scenarios.

Chinese military action might not be as straightforward as a full frontal assault on Taiwan: it could include actions like a blockade to try to force Taiwan to accept China's rule, strategists say.

Tension between Beijing, which views Taiwan as its own territory, and Taipei have spiked since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August.

To show its anger, China mounted military exercises around Taiwan that included firing missiles and steps to mount a blockade. China has since then continued its military activities, though on a smaller scale.

That has focused attention in Taiwan and capitals of friendly countries, like the United States and Japan, on how a any conflict with China could play out, and how Taiwan and its allies might respond.

The senior Taiwanese security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said China's drills after the Pelosi visit had shown what might happen in case the worst came to the worst, and focused thought on how Taiwan would react.

"A blockade is an act of war; seizing an offshore island is an act of war," the official said, adding Taipei believed Beijing was unlikely to take either of those actions at the moment.

"Their only purpose to seize (offshore islands) is to force us to negotiate or surrender. But we will not surrender or negotiate."

Short of an outright invasion, many military strategists, and even Taiwan's defence ministry, have said China could try and seize one of Taiwan's offshore islands, like the Kinmen and Matsu archipelagos, just off China's coast.

"Those are military actions. There is no room for ambiguity," the official said.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

'BUILDING DETERRENCE'

The official said Taipei did not rule out the possibility of Beijing launching large-scale military exercises near Taiwan next year, when the island gears up for a presidential election in early 2024.

"This is what we are worried about at the moment," the official said, adding other possible Chinese actions could include stepping up its "grey-zone" tactics near Taiwan including incursions with militia boats or cyber attacks.

The official said countries other than the United States, which sails warships through the Taiwan Strait about once a month, should show Beijing that an attack on Taiwan would not go unanswered.

"Building up deterrence is very important. Not just America, European countries and Japan should join the force of deterrence."

U.S. President Joe Biden said in comments broadcast on Sunday that U.S forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement on the issue.

With the world's most advanced semiconductors produced in Taiwan, it is in the world's interest to ensure stability, the official said.

"Pressure in the Taiwan Strait is pressuring chip supplies."

Tsai, who has said Taiwan would not provoke China or "rashly advance", has made bolstering defence a priority, including a double-digit increase in defence spending next year.

While China has said it prefers peaceful "reunification" and has offered Taiwan a Hong Kong-style autonomy deal, it has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.

Taiwan's democratically elected government says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. (Reuters)