A NUMBER of noticeable Chinese elements were seen at last week’s Group of 20 (G20) summit in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali, according to Global Times reporters covering the dayslong summit.
These included new energy vehicles (NEVs) sponsored by SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile (SGMW), a joint venture company based in the city of Liuzhou in China’s southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
A total of 300 NEVs — part of SGMW’s Air ev series — were adorned with batik designs and G20 logos. They were also colorful, in sharp contrast to other vehicles on the island.
The NEVs can travel 200 kilometers with every charge, which can meet the demand of summit meetings, according to a statement sent by SGMW to the Global Times.
The presence of these vehicles shows increasingly close NEV sector cooperation between China and Indonesia. The Southeast Asian archipelago plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 31.89 percent by 2030.
“We will see more Air EV shuttles in Bali, and we hope Wuling will become an important part of the ecological development of electric vehicles in Indonesia,” Pratikno, minister of the State Secretariat of Indonesia, said during the NEVs’ delivery ceremony in October.
As the first Chinese NEV in the Indonesian market, the Air ev has received more than 4,000 orders since its debut, helping it post the highest monthly sales in the country, the company said.
In addition to the shuttle vehicles, the Global Times learned that many local staffers at the summit chose China-made coronavirus vaccines. Reporters and staffers at the site were required to be vaccinated.
China-based CanSino Biologics Inc. signed an agreement with Indonesian biopharmaceutical Company Etana on November 13 to cooperate on developing inhaled vaccine technology and a vaccine for meningitis.
CanSino will also work with partners in Indonesia to promote the joint development and commercialization of innovative vaccines and contribute to the development of a regional vaccine production hub in Indonesia, the company said in a statement to the Global Times.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, China and Indonesia have teamed up to combat the virus. Indonesia was one of the first countries to send epidemic prevention supplies to China, and China was the first to cooperate with Indonesia in the research and development of Covid-19 vaccines and specific drugs. It’s also the largest supplier of vaccines to Indonesia, according to media reports.
Also, the much-anticipated Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, which links China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Indonesia’s Global Maritime Fulcrum strategy, was to undergo an operational test during the summit.
With a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the railway will cut travel time between Jakarta and Bandung from over three hours to about 40 minutes. It is expected to boost economic growth and enhance the competitiveness of the local economy.
Since the establishment of their comprehensive strategic partnership, China and Indonesia have seen cooperation grow rapidly in various fields. Their bilateral trade totaled $124.4 billion in 2021, up 58.6 percent year on year. China has been Indonesia’s largest trading partner for nine years, according to data from Beijing’s General Administration of Customs.
Meanwhile, Indonesia has become the second-largest investment destination for China in Southeast Asia. Chinese tech giant Tencent launched its first internet data center in Indonesia in April 2021, providing global access and many services to governments and organizations that need advanced infrastructure and a resilient environment, such as those in online games, live broadcast, and financial services sectors, the company told the Global Times.
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