RI ‘lagging behind’ in ASEAN ties with China

Indonesia must make use of financing facilities that come under the aegis of the China–ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) to turn the pact into a positive force, Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Zhang Qiyue says.
The agreement, signed in 2002 and which came into full effect in January, should not be seen only as a question of Indonesia versus China, but also as competition between members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Zhang said Thursday.
She told a luncheon hosted by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) that unless Indonesia snapped up financing facilities provided by China, the facilities would quickly go to other ASEAN countries.
Dropping all diplomatic pretensions, the ambassador said “Indonesia is lagging behind”.
The agreement has become a major source of contention among some business leaders in Indonesia, who have called for a revision of the agreement or a delay in the implementation of several of its terms.
The restlessness has emerged in the 60th year of Sino-Indonesia relations, the anniversary of which will be officially celebrated in April. Prime Minister Wen Jianbao will be visiting Jakarta next month as part of the celebrations.
At the meeting, also attended by Industry Minister and former Kadin president Muhammad Hidayat, Zhang said misunderstandings about the CAFTA has led to some people in Indonesia to see it as a threat, claiming “the Chinese dragon is coming”.
However, Zhang said with the CAFTA, Indonesia should see China both as a huge and growing market for its products as well as a source of investment and financing.
She said the two governments had already built the platform through the CAFTA. “Now, it’s for you to finish the show,” she told the business leaders.
Zhang said Indonesia, by far the largest member in ASEAN, was losing out to smaller ASEAN countries on tourism, trade and even in cultural programs.
In tourism, around 4 million Chinese visit the region each year, but of this figure only 250,000 come to Indonesia, while most go to Singapore and Thailand. In trade, Indonesia is the fourth-largest partner behind Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
In cultural cooperation, Indonesia last year hosted 97 volunteers sent by the Chinese government to teach Mandarin here, far less than the number sent to Thailand.
Zhang said the low frequency of direct flights between Indonesia
and China was indicative of the state of relations between the two
countries.
There are currently 766 direct scheduled flights between China and ASEAN countries each week, and Indonesia accounts for between one and two dozen of these, she said.
“There are about 800 flights each week between Seoul and Beijing, which shows the intensity of relations between these two countries,” Zhang added.
She noted however that Garuda had already increased services to China and the embassy was working on one or two China airlines flights from South China to Indonesia.
On a more upbeat note, the ambassador said overall the economic and political relations between Indonesia and China had improved significantly since the two countries signed the strategic partnership program in 2005.
Indonesia, she said, had been singled out among the other ASEAN countries as a strategic partner of China.
“We see this as a relationship for the long term.”