A Brief Analysis Of Indonesia Maritime Economy And The Future Bilateral Maritime Cooperation Between China And Indonesia

Sitting on the equator,Indonesia is a typical archipelago country with a tropical climate.Spanning the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean,its territory,two thirds of which is covered by water,is consisted of 17508 islands,with a coastline of 81,000 km.As the biggest archipelago country,it has a population of 260 million,fourth largest in the world.Marine resources have endowed Indonesia with a natural developmental advantage.Natural bays,rich fishing resources and a mild climate make for a picturesque paradise of Bali;oil and gas reserves in abyssal plains once added a halo of an exporting powerhouse of oil and gas to the country.However,the Indonesian government had failed to come up with a long term and sustainable plan for developing its marine resources.After docking with the economic globalization process,the national government looked back and realized that outdated fishing boating had led to restricted fishing capacities;poorly constructed harbors could not accommodate large freighters;and in the meantime,oil fields which had been exploited for nearly a century had neared a retirement age and even the Bali had lost its previous glories.After October 2014,the seventh president Joko Widodo considered that as the largest archipelagic country in the world,the innate advantage of Indonesia itself was that it could develop towards ocean,and Indonesia's marine management had lagged behind for a long time;Joko vowed to re-develop the marine economy,achieve the peak of national economy again by marine resources and industries,and redeem Indonesia's lost glory as a maritime power.At the same time,after the reform and opening up for decades,China develops very quickly,and its economic strength makes a great coup;and complying with government's "going out" strategy,China has invested a lot in Indonesia since 2010,but most of the investments concentrate on mining and building power plants.Currently,China has a better financial condition and construction strength,the large projects such as the Suramadu Bridge,Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park built in Indonesia show that China has been up to the standards which are not inferior to those of advanced countries in foreign project contracting and industry management.In 2016,China has become the third major source country of investment of Indonesia,and with the increase of China's investments in Indonesia and the planning of the Maritime Silk Road,there is considerable space for cooperation between the two countries in marine economy.However,for the revitalization and development of the marine economy,Indonesia has many problems to be solved,such as capitals,technologies and national decrees,and the Indonesian government is also trying to vigorously introduce foreign technologies and FDI to cooperate with the development of the marine industry.Indonesia must solve the problems of the development of marine economy,and China should also look for investable sectors in Indonesia.Indonesia and China should jointly deepen the developments of the two countries,and at present,there are both opportunities and challenges in their marine economic cooperation.