China unsure about RI's business climate
China unsure about RI's business climate
JAKARTA (JP): Chinese businessmen consider that Indonesia's
trade and investment regulations have not been promoted well
enough, making them unsure about the country's business climate.
Chen Yu, chief editor of the leading China International
Merchant magazine, said promotion was an important aspect which
Indonesia must not disregard, because the country possessed a
wealth of attractive business opportunities.
"Indonesia has many commodities that the Chinese are
interested in such as plywood, pulp and rubber," Chen, as quoted
by Antara, said in Beijing.
Chen added that apart from its commodities, Indonesia was also
a potential market for Chinese products.
"But the problem is that Chinese businessmen don't have a
clear picture of Indonesia's existing business world and trade
and investment regulations," Chen said.
For this reason, he said, the Indonesian government should try
harder to promote its economic policies.
Chen's suggestion was backed by figures provided by
Indonesia's Ambassador to China, Juwana, who said that Indonesian
businessmen were investing more in China than their Chinese
counterparts were doing in Indonesia.
Although in China alone, Indonesia's investments during the
first three quarters of last year reached US$89.42 million --
less than the $184 million of Chinese investments in Indonesia --
statistics showed that Indonesians last year invested a total of
$3 billion in Hong Kong and China.
"In general, the figures are encouraging, because Indonesia
gains a surplus over China ... But Hong Kong statistics say that
our total investment in Hong Kong and China reaches $3 billion,
which indicates a deficit on our side," Juwana said.
Juwana asked Chinese businessmen to offset the deficit by
increasing their investments in Indonesia.
He pointed out that the two countries had their own economic
advantages, which were complementary to each other.
Chinese businessmen will benefit from investing in Indonesia
because Indonesia is geographically close to China and because
the two -- being Asian countries -- had many social and cultural
similarities, Juwana said.
Increase
Since Indonesia and China re-opened diplomatic relations in
1990, trade between the two has increased from $1.17 billion in
1990 to $3.49 billion in 1995. This is less than 2 percent of
China's total international trade volume of $280 billion last
year.
China presently has an annual economic growth of 12 percent.
Annual trade growth between China and Indonesia in the last
six years has increased at an average of 13.45 percent.
According to China's statistics, Indonesia has always enjoyed
a trade surplus with China during that period. In 1990, the trade
surplus reached $424 million and in 1992, it reached $1.08
billion -- the highest recorded.
Indonesia's exports to China -- which consist mainly of crude
oil, wood products, paper, cooking oil, fats and rubber -- have
also been increasing at an average rate of 10.16 percent a year.
Exports in 1990 were seen at $803.24 million in 1990, but reached
$2.05 billion last year.
Meanwhile, Indonesia's imports from China, which increased at
an average of 17.31 percent during the 1990-1995 period, went up
from $329 million in 1990 to $1.42 billion in 1995. Imports
include cotton, vegetables and metal.
In the last five years, imports of zinc and steam boilers
alone rose sharply by 125 percent and 394 percent, respectively.
(pwn)