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.