JABAR EKSPRES – Coordinator of Political Functions at the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing Irwansyah Mukhlis said Indonesia can take advantage of the potential offered by the Hainan Free Trade Port.
“We see it as an opportunity because there is potential from the Hainan ‘free trade port‘ and we in ASEAN also have the ‘ASEAN China Free Trade Area’ scheme as well so it is actually connected, so there are many things we can cooperate and can exchange experiences including for culture and ‘people to people’ relations,” Irwansyah Mukhlis told in Beijing, China on Sunday night (8/27).
Irwansyah said this on the sidelines of the “Grab A Bite of the Free Trade Port – Hainan and ASEAN Culture and Food Exchange” event which became an introduction to ASEAN and Chinese products. In the event, various foods from Hainan and ASEAN countries were served, including chicken satay and the performance of “Brocade Li”, a traditional cloth from the Li minority tribe on Hainan Island.
Read more: ASEAN and China Ties Strengthen Through Hainan and Food Exchange
In trade relations, according to Irwansyah, ASEAN is China’s largest trading partner with a total trade volume reaching 975 billion US dollars in 2022 or an increase of 15 percent from 2021. Meanwhile, in the first semester of 2023, the total trade volume between ASEAN and China reached 428.96 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.4 percent (y-o-y).
“The potential is very large, especially Indonesia as the chairman of ASEAN this year because again the trade relations between the two countries are very large and coupled with the geographical proximity to Hainan actually makes the potential even greater, so the most can be in terms of logistics for cooperation,” added Irwansyah.
Hainan is located in the southernmost region of China. The tropical province is an island with an area of only 33,210 square kilometers bordering Vietnam.
“We see that although there are Hainan products that are the same as Indonesia or other ASEAN countries, we do not deny the other potential advantages of each country. Indonesia has its own advantages as well as other ASEAN member countries where we can automatically enter there,” said Irwansyah.
