Chinese face obstacles in RI trade

Chinese face obstacles in RI trade

JAKARTA (JP): While Chinese businessmen expressed their
optimism that Indonesia offers many advantages to China, they
stressed that some challenges need to be dealt with as well.

At a seminar organized by the Association of Indonesia-China
Economic, Social and Cultural Cooperation, and Yayasan Economica
of the University of Indonesia, two Chinese economic officials
discussed their hopes and reservations about doing business in
Indonesia.

"China and Indonesia could become partners in developing the
world market on a mutually-beneficial basis." Zhao Chunhua,
deputy director general of the Department of Science and
Technology, said.

"However," he added, "the two sides have to address problems
for smooth growth of economic and trade sanctions, commodity
inspections and Chinese traders' terms of stay in Indonesia."

"Indonesia only accepts inspection certificates issued by SGS
and rejects certificates by Chinese commodity inspection
departments," he explained.

The Indonesian government has assigned the Swiss-based Societe
Generale de Surveillance (SGS) to inspect Indonesia's imports at
points of loading since 1985.

Now, according to an international trade agreement, Chinese
commodity inspections have become an involved process in which
the China Export Commodity Inspection Corporation (CECIC) must
consult with the Hong Kong SGS office before they can ship goods
to Indonesia.

"This time-consuming procedure slows the circulation of export
documents and raises the fees that importers must pay," he said.

Joint inspection

He added, however, that a joint inspection station would be
established in China by the end of the year.

The official was not as optimistic about the visa situation
for Chinese nationals traveling to Indonesia.

"Our two countries have begun to launch mutually beneficial
joint projects. However, Indonesian immigration authorities only
allow a 28-day stay for each entry visa given to Chinese
citizens."

Another speaker at the seminar, Sun Xiaomen, also discussed
the visa situation.

"We suggest that you simplify the procedure by offering a visa
of three to five years to foreigners with some requirements such
as that the holder register every year."

Xiaomen, general manager of the China National Technical
Import and Export Cooperation, continued his criticism with equal
candor when dealing with the problem of poor contract
performance.

"It is a pity that some contracts signed by parties in
Indonesia see poor performance because of breaches of contract by
some Indonesian merchants," he said bluntly. "In the case of the
Co-generator Power Plant Contract, the Chinese parties involved
suffered terrible losses. We are anxiously expecting some steps
to be taken by the Indonesian government to solve the problem."

Despite these criticisms, however, both men seemed confident
about business prospects in Indonesia. (Zhao) Chunhua said that
two-way trade between China and Indonesia had increased steadily
from 1990, when the two countries resumed diplomatic relations.

"Indonesia has emerged as China's second largest trading
partner in Southeast Asia after Singapore. Economic and
technological cooperation between the two countries showed great
progress in recent years in which 84 joint-venture projects have
been established or are waiting for approval in Indonesia," he
said.(icn/dlz)

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