Indonesia and China{u2019}s Belt and Road Initiatives : Perspectives, Issues and Prospects

For Indonesia, which is keen to accelerate its infrastructure development, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is seen as an opportunity to tap into China{u2019}s huge financial resources and technological capability. There has however been no concrete BRI project agreed to between China and Indonesia so far. While China considers all projects, including infrastructure projects and economic interactions as part of BRI, Indonesia only considers those infrastructure projects initiated during the Xi Jinping period as BRI projects. Indonesia has offered several broad areas for cooperation under the BRI framework and carefully selected project locations to minimize political risk for the Joko Widodo government. But no agreements have been signed yet as China requires detailed project proposals from Indonesia, which it has apparently not received. What appears to hamper progress are four key issues: the perception of China{u2019}s economic domination, the ethnic Chinese issue, the Natuna issue, and the mainland Chinese workers issue

The Philippine economy has grown rapidly since 2010, but despite this growth, poverty and inequality remain high. Two-thirds of the poor live in rural areas, and the weak performance of the agriculture sector has contributed to the slow improvement in livelihoods. The challenge for agriculture will further increase, with climate change posing a growing threat to the sector.

FOREWORD Indonesia and China’s Belt and Road Initiatives: Perspectives, Issues and Prospects INTRODUCTION ECONOMIC RELATIONS CHINA’S PARTICIPATION IN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN INDONESIA AND BRI ISSUES IN INDONESIA–CHINA RELATIONS WHICH IMPINGE UPON BRI PROSPECTS