Indonesia should learn from China, President says

Indonesia should learn from China, President says

Primastuti Handayani, The Jakarta Post/Beijing

"When I visited Shanghai, I found a pair of trousers with good
quality sewing that only cost Rp 100,000 (US$10.20)," President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said aboard the Garuda Airbus A330-300
taking him and his entourage to Beijing on Wednesday.

"I saw the trousers and felt sad. How can our products compete
with those made in China?"

The relatively low prices of its products has been key to
China's rise to power in the international trade regime over the
past several years, with Chinese products flooding world markets
largely unchallenged.

In contrast, despite sharing similarly low labor costs,
Indonesia has generally higher production costs due mainly to a
long list of fees -- both legal and illegal -- businesspeople
have to pay.

According to the President, Indonesia should learn from China,
not only in terms of trade and investment, which are the emphases
of his visit to China, but also in the use of technology.

Indonesian official data shows that bilateral trade between
the two countries stood at $13 billion last year, while Chinese
investment in Indonesia amounted to $6.5 billion.

"We are open to the transfer of technology. The technology
can be from Europe, the U.S. or China. Perhaps the proper
technology for Indonesia is from China," presidential spokesman
Andi Mallarangeng said.

That is why, Andi added, the President included in his
entourage for the state visit Bandung Institute of Technology
rector Djoko Santoso and Surabaya Institute of Technology rector
Muhammad Nuh.

The entourage also includes Coordinating Minister for the
Economy Aburizal Bakrie and Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar.

Regarding defense technology, Andi said Indonesia wanted to be
involved in the transfer of technology that would allow the
country to make use of parts or components that could be
domestically produced.

"Even if we were to buy military equipment, we prefer to buy
from countries that do not place difficult requirements on the
purchases," he said without elaborating.

Susilo is on a four-day visit to China to follow up on a
strategic partnership agreement signed with Chinese President Hu
Jintao in Jakarta last April, a day after the Asian-African
Summit.

Indonesia hopes to get a larger share of Chinese overseas
investment by opening up for investment its vast energy
resources, infrastructure projects and other commodities such as
palm oil and rubber.

Susilo flew to Shenzhen on Friday to hold meetings with
Chinese business leaders.

"In Shenzhen, you can check how much a T-shirt costs," said
Susilo, sporting a dark green long-sleeved T-shirt, smiling.