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Luhut welcomes China's Wang Yi for investment talks
The Chinese state councilor is expected to stay overnight in North Sumatra before flying onto Jakarta to meet Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi and pay a courtesy visit to President Joko Widodo.
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oordinating Maritime Affairs and Investments Minister Luhut Pandjaitan played host to China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday, as the state official visited his hometown near Lake Toba in North Sumatra to discuss cooperation on investments.
The Chinese official was on the first leg of a two-day visit to Indonesia, which is part of a bigger tour of Southeast Asia that runs from Monday through Saturday, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.
His visit makes up for a canceled plan for the Chinese state councilor to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Indonesian-Chinese relations last year, which was shelved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the stopover in Toba, the ministers were expected to follow up on a request to widen access for Indonesian exports of tropical fruit and fisheries products to China and to increase Chinee imports of Indonesian coal.
The visit also sought to involve Chinese tertiary education institutions in developing the Center for the Conservation, Research and Innovation of Chinese-Indonesia Medicinal Plants in Humbang Hasudutan, North Sumatra.
“[They will discuss] several issues including investments, strategic projects and partnership in the tourism sector. There will also be discussions on the COVID-19 pandemic and national economic recovery,” coordinating ministry spokesman Jodi Mahardi said, as quoted by kompas.com.
The Chinese official is expected to spend the night in North Sumatra before departing for Jakarta on Wednesday to meet Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.
Wang Yi is also expected to meet President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Wednesday, just as Indonesia begins to roll out Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine.
However, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah dismissed a connection between the visit and the official start of Indonesia’s vaccination program, saying that Wang Yi was in the country to discuss bilateral affairs.
China is Indonesia's largest trading partner, with two-way trade valued at US$72.6 billion in 2018. The rising East Asian giant is also the third-largest foreign investor in the country, with total investments having reached a value of $2.3 billion in 2019, according to official data.
However, In the past few years, tensions between the two countries have simmered over China trespassing into waters under Indonesian jurisdiction, and the exploitation of Indonesian seafarers on Chinese fishing vessels.
In September last year, Indonesia’s Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla) drove off a Chinese coast guard vessel that had entered Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). China has insisted on the right to patrol waters within the so-called “nine-dash-line” – a historical claim to most of the South China Sea that was delegitimized in 2016.
Beijing has also been criticized following an exposé last year that found that four Indonesian nationals working on Chinese fishing vessel the Long Xing 629 had died as a result of poor working conditions.
Chief of State Protocol Andy Rachmianto said that the labor exploitation issue would be raised in the foreign ministers’ meeting.
Most recently, the discovery of an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in waters off South Sulawesi has sparked speculation about espionage and a breach of national security.
Even though there is a likelihood that the vehicle was made in China, Beijing has remained silent about it. (trn)
