TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:A political expert from the National Taiwan University, Chen Dong Tso, said that Indonesia does not have to fear cooperating with Taiwan. “We already signed an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China,” he said, during the closing of a seminar on democracy and free trade, yesterday.
The ECFA agreement, in effect since September 2010, allows Taiwan to carry out trade and business relations with China. Indonesia and other countries do not have to worry about strengthening trade with Taiwan. The agreement will not upset the One China Policy applied by the Chinese government.
The seminar, organized by the Tempo Institute and the Taipei Economic and Trade Chamber (TETO) also pushed for a closer bilateral relations. Andrew Hsia, Chairman of TETO in Indonesia, said that Taiwan investment in Indonesia amounted to US$ 14 trillion. At least 150.000 Indonesians work in Taiwan and at least 100.000 Taiwanese work in Indonesia.