(MENAFNEditorial)
SINGAPORE May 21 2015—After more than five years of feasibility studies and high-level lobbying Japanese officials thought they were on the brink of bringing bullet trains to Indonesia. Then China showed up.
“Suddenly the minister of state-owned enterprises announced they had made something with the Chinese” said Hiromichi Muraoka senior Indonesia representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency the country’s foreign aid arm. “That surprised me.”
Japan versus China. It’s a story that is being writ large in the region where decades of investment by Japan and its companies are now being challenged by China. And nowhere could the shift become more influential than in Indonesia.
Southeast Asia’s biggest economy has the largest population and most natural resources in the region. Its vast archipelago stretches from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific and borders some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
China’s desire to develop political and commercial links to the country is a boon for Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo a former furniture exporter who believes he can leverage competition with Japan to get better deals according to Wellian Wiranto an economist at Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. in Singapore.
“Indonesia needs a lot of infrastructure and China has the expertise and the money” Wiranto said. “You add that up with the political factor between Japan and China and it’s quite hopeful that China will be pumping more money into Indonesia.”
Jokowi and China’s President Xi Jinping also have interests in common. The Indonesian leader wants to develop the country’s ports and fishing to create a “global maritime axis” an ambition that complements Xi’s plan for a “Maritime Silk Road” in Asia.
Indonesia also supports China’s suggestion for the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank which could end up funding projects Indonesia needs. Read more..
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