Indonesia wants to be the trade hub of the Asia-Pacific

H.E. Soegeng Rahardjo

Already several hundreds of years ago there has been connections between China and Indonesia. This is all a result of the wide interaction along the ancient Maritime Silk Road. H.E. Rahardjo tells that these connections had a deep impact on Indonesia. For example many scholars believe that Islam itself was introduced to Indonesia through Chinese sailors.

An interesting historical figure that rises when talking about Indonesian history is the famous Chinese Admiral Zheng He (郑和) who visited modern-day Indonesia, especially the island of Java, several times between 1400 and the 1460s. Mr. Rahardjo mentions that Zheng He contributed to the establishment of modern Indonesian society by teaching local people farming and bringing new cultural elements to Indonesia.

There is also a strong ethnic Chinese presence in Indonesia. Mr. Rahardjo tells that according to the 2010 Indonesian national census the ethnically Chinese Indonesians amounted around 2 800 000 people. This would make the second largest diaspora of ethnically Chinese in the world after the United States. Nevertheless Mr. Rahardjo is a little sceptical.

“Many sources note and state that the number of ethnically Chinese in Indonesia is larger than reported, maybe around 9% of the whole population. If this were true, the ethnically Chinese in Indonesia would amount 20 million people, which is a very large concentration of ethnically Chinese in the world.”

The modern relations between China and Indonesia are very good. In 2005 both countries agreed to a strategic partnership. H.E. Rahardjo tells that since then the relations have been improving, continuously growing in terms of trade and investment.

This cooperation was even deepened after Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Indonesia in 2013 and signed a treaty that elevated the existing bilateral relation from a strategic partnership to a comprehensive strategic partnership. This has brought even more economic benefits and Chinese tourists to Indonesia.

Chinese investments and technical expertise also play an important role in Indonesia. Mr. Rahardjo mentions for example plans to build a high-speed train between the capital Jakarta and the fourth largest city Bandung.

“The purpose of this project is to have more flow between manpower in the big cities in Indonesia. I believe that if this project is successfully built between Jakarta and Bandung, maybe we will build more and connect the network to the other cities.”

H.E. Rahardjo explaining Indonesian history

H.E. Rahardjo interestingly compares two big projects, or “dreams” as he calls them, started by China and Indonesia. China has the One Belt, One Road initiative, which intends to revive the ancient Silk Road and Indonesia wants to build a so-called World Maritime Fulcrum in order to become a trade hub in the Asia-Pacific region.

“I believe that we should complement each other. We should have synergy between Indonesia and China. China can materialize the One Belt, One Road and Indonesia can also translate this to its World Maritime Fulcrum.”

Mr. Rahardjo also sees that there are many challenges before these two projects can be realized. Nevertheless deep cooperation between Indonesia and would benefit the whole region.

 “If we cooperate the benefits will be also contributed to other countries in the Pacific region, not only for our two countries.”