China makes offer to Indonesia, positioning itself for unique access to minerals: analyst
Beijing may attempt to trade manufacturing assistance for access to Indonesia’s vast, export-restricted reserves
China has offered to assist Indonesia in improving its manufacturing sector and increasing the added value of its commodities, likely in a move to position Chinese companies for unique access to Indonesia’s unprocessed minerals, which Jakarta bans from export.
Beijing’s ambassador to Jakarta, Wang Lutong, said “supply chain and industrial integration”, among other closer economic ties, would support development targets in both countries, Jakarta’s state-owned national news agency Antara reported on Monday.
Wang added that the Indonesian mineral resource “downstreaming agenda” could be “combined with China’s manufacturing capabilities to increase the added value of commodities”.
Chinese investors who add value to minerals in Indonesia could sell those products to a “huge” local market or into a supply chain, with some goods eligible for export, said Jayant Menon, a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
“I think they would like to secure as much of that supply chain as possible,” he said.