Trade war with China

This growing tension against China in the midst of ASEAN-China FTA should also look at some facts. Indonesia's import from China has grown from 2.4% in 1985 to 7.2% in 2006 (as shares of total import). The corresponding figures of export are 0.5% and 9.8%. Contrast this with our trade with Japan, US (let's make it North America), and EU15. Our import from Japan was 25.8% in 1985 and down to 14.2% in 2006; while export down from 46.2% to 37.3%. Import from US was down from 18.7% to 16.6% and export to them was down from 22% to 18.9%. Finally, import from EU15 went down from 19% to 8.3% while export increased from 6.4% to 18%.

So de facto, we have had an increasing trade with China. Not just import, but also export.