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Taiwan throws weight behind RI govt, set to invest
Taiwanese firms are keen to seize opportunities offered by Indonesiaâs new economic policies, paving the way to further tighten bilateral ties between both countries
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Taiwanese firms are keen to seize opportunities offered by Indonesia's new economic policies, paving the way to further tighten bilateral ties between both countries.
Priorities for investment will be laid out in the information and communication technology industry and in the energy, automotive, agriculture, fisheries and oil-related industries, according to Taiwanese trade officials.
'We have very strong confidence in the new government. We will forge closer relations with it,' said YC Tsai, the director of the economic division at the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Indonesia (TETO), after meeting Industry Minister Saleh Husin on Wednesday.
In total, Taiwanese firms have already poured up to US$17 billion into Southeast Asia's biggest economy through direct investments, particularly by setting up manufacturing facilities, employing at least 1 million local workers, according to data from the TETO.
Separate statistics from Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) showed that within the five-year period ending last year, Taiwan had been the 12th-largest foreign investor in Indonesia with investments totaling $1.45 billion.
Future investments would be largely driven by spending from the Taiwan-based E United Group on the construction of a nickel smelter on Sulawesi Island, Tsai said.
The firm, through its subsidiary Asiazone Co. Ltd., has announced its plan to build a $280 million nickel smelter with its local partner, publicly listed PT Central Omega Resources (DKFT), through their joint venture, PT Yieh United Omega.
All nickel output from the smelter will be shipped to China to feed production in E United's manufacturing unit, which makes 3 million tons of stainless steel each year.
Apart from that, a Taiwanese firm was assessing the possibility of investing in oil refining and the petrochemical industry in Indonesia, Tsai said.
The country currently depends heavily on imported petrochemicals, as the domestic production capacity still cannot meet total demand.
Taiwan electronics giant, Foxconn Technology Group, is still keeping an eye on the Indonesian market and might go ahead with its delayed investment, Tsai added.
Foxconn, which is the world's biggest electronic component producer, said late last year that it was optimistic about starting construction of a $1 billion manufacturing facility to produce cellular phones and tablets.
Manufacturing industries in Indonesia and Taiwan are complementary in nature and a wider scope of cooperation will benefit both parties, according to TETO representative Liang-jen Chang.
'There is more room for further development. So this will create some kind of win-win situation for both sides,' he said.
In Southeast Asia, Taiwan's firms largely channel sizeable amounts of investments into big projects in Singapore and Thailand.
