Taiwan is willing to help

Taiwan is willing to help

My letter to your newspaper (Dec. 30, 2002) was to clarify some statements in Jusuf Wanandi's article Indonesia still respects the one China Policy (Dec. 12, 2002). I have no intention to start a war of the pen with anybody in The Jakarta Post. Sia Ka Mou's abusive response (Jan. 6, 2003) to my letter, however, compelled me to present more words to correct his erroneous accusations.

Taiwan has been Bali's third largest source of visitors for many years and "Go South" has been our investment policy since 1990. After the Bali bombing, our main concern was how to help Indonesia revitalize her battered tourist industry and dwindling foreign direct investment. Originally, President Chen prepared to personally lead a group of businessmen to march into Indonesia to develop industrial parks and promote tourism. Unfortunately, our government now has to stop all of the plans. Mou's arguments distorted the facts too much.

Mou claimed that Indonesia and China not only competed with each other but also complemented each other. For this viewpoint, I only want to quote the word of Rizal Ramli, former coordinating minister for the economy, to rebut it. He said that ASEAN's Free Trade Agreement with China would pave the way for China to increase its exports to ASEAN, but not vice versa. The reason is that China-ASEAN trade relations are fundamentally competitive rather than complementary. In forging such a FTA, China's real intentions are to make ASEAN as its backyard and to seek regional hegemony.

Mou bragged that China's investments to Indonesia in 2002 had increased a lot. Their investment items, however, were all energy related. Why China does not use their domestic produced energy first? Is it their strategy to conserve their own resources and consume foreign energies instead?

Mou also defamed Taiwan's high-tech and machinery products. Taiwan is the world's No. 3 computer products manufacturer. How could we make it? It's because of our high quality products and competitive prices. As for Taiwan's machines, Aswan Sjachril, Secretary General of China committee, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, recently said that Taiwan's machines were reasonably priced but the quality was as good as that of highly advanced countries.

DEREK HSU, Director Information Division Taipei Economic and Trade Office, Jakarta