China Holds BRI Forum As Indonesia's Opportunity In Energy Transition Development

JAKARTA - China is again holding the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum or belt and road initiative forum, on 17-18 October 2023. According to the plan, there are around 130 countries and 30 international organizations attending the BRI Forum.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) himself is known to have been in Beijing, China, since Monday afternoon, October 16.

Economist and Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios) assessed that the presence of President Jokowi took the opportunity to encourage cooperation in the development of BRI, which is more oriented towards Indonesia's interests, especially in the energy transition.

"It is undeniable that the government of the Jokowi era really welcomes the Belt and Road Initiative project because it supports Indonesia's strategic agenda that focuses on infrastructure development," Bhima said in a written statement received by VOI, Tuesday, October 17.

He added, based on the AidData report in 2021, Indonesia is one of the countries that received the largest funds from China through the BRI scheme.

"The flow of Belt and Road funds is mostly accepted by poor and developing countries, including Indonesia," said Bhima.

It is known, in the last 10 years, Chinese funding that has been channeled to various countries has exceeded more than US$1 trillion or the equivalent of 15,700 trillion. The fantastic nominal is focused on funding the construction of power plants, train lines, ports, roads, and bridges.

Nevertheless, said Bhima, many Indonesian observers and experts have sharply criticized the initiation from China because it is still pouring large-scale funds for projects that are not environmentally friendly.

"China's investment in the renewable energy sector is still far less than in the dirty energy sector. Ironically, 86 percent of Chinese funding is still being channeled for the development of coal-fired power plants through China Development Bank (CDB) and China Export-Import Bank (CHEXIM)," he said.

Furthermore, Bhima said, the Indonesian government must be more firm in ensuring that projects that have been and will run must be in a lower direction for carbon emissions and in the future must be more selective in choosing funding that supports a just energy transition solution.

"The Belt and Road Initiative should support critical mineral mining governance (critical minerals) to transparent further processing, not damaging the environment and not harming the surrounding community or workers," he concluded.