Merangkai SinoLogika: Bunga Rampai - Christine Susanna Tjhin

Of the 75 years of diplomatic relations, the Indonesia-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (ICCSP), established in 2013, is the era when giant leaps occurred.  The value of bilateral trade in 2013 was US$52.45 billion; by 2024, it had nearly tripled to $135.17 billion, with exports accounting for 23.6 per cent of our total exports and 31.1 per cent of our total imports. Indonesia is the 16th export destination partner (2 percent of China's total exports) and the 11th import origin partner (3.2 percent).  Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) data show that Chinese investment jumped from 12th place in 2013 ($297 million) to second place ($8.1 billion) by 2024, with 59 percent average investment growth over the past decade. These figures exclude Hong Kong SAR.  When diplomatic normalization began, relations moved glacially. The consequences of two decades of frozen diplomatic ties and three decades of the New Order's assimilation policy were still chronically felt....

  Southeast Asian countries need to deepen their integration and economic cooperation to sustain regional development amid uncertainties and challenges arising from steep tariffs imposed by the United States, a regional forum heard on Wednesday. While tariff negotiations with the US may have resulted in deals that are disadvantageous to members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the regional bloc can use existing free trade agreements to promote a "rules-based global economic order", according to experts who participated in the webinar organized by the Manila-based Philippine Association for Chinese Studies. "The inconsistency and unpredictability of US foreign policy (are pushing) Asian and other regional states to hedge and realign," said Kei Koga, an associate professor from the School of Social Sciences at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University. Noting how US trade policies change when a new president is elected, he said that Asian countrie...