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The struggle to define the Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia
How does one tell if an infrastructure project in Indonesia is part of China's Belt and Road Initiative?
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President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo (left) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during the welcome ceremony for the Belt and Road Forum at the International Conference Center in Yanqi Lake, north of Beijing, on May 15, 2017. (AFP Photo/Roman Pilipey/Pool)
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n 2015, when President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo unveiled an ambitious plan to build the roads, ports and railways desperately needed to advance Indonesia’s economy, he realized that he could not rely on domestic funds alone for the targeted US$465 billion of investment by 2019. Back then, Chinese investment to Indonesia was low, lagging behind even Malaysia.
But within five years, China went from being a peripheral investor in the Indonesian economy to Indonesia’s third-largest investor. Four years later, $10.2 billion of the initial investment goal has been contributed by Chinese investors.
While Jokowi was preparing for economic revitalization, Chinese President Xi Jinping was courting governments across Asia to join his flagship Belt and Road Initiative.
Whether the significant leap in Chinese investment in Indonesia since 2016 can be directly linked to the Belt and Road Initiative is a controversial question complicated by the cautious attitude Indonesia has taken toward the initiative.
Has the Belt and Road Initiative in Indonesia even begun?
The term “Belt and Road" has become ubiquitous among governments and experts in Asia, but while everyone knows what it is, no one can tell you what is in it. There is no official list of projects in this elusive Belt and Road Initiative, although China might finally be doing so. According to an April 3 report from Bloomberg, China is for the first time drafting criteria for projects to be considered part of the initiative.
While projects across Indonesia, from dams in North Sumatra to the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, have had Chinese funds backing them since 2015 and before, whether they are Belt and Road projects depends largely on who you ask.
