October 8, 2015
No. 216
The governments of the Republic of China and Indonesia have reached an agreement on the establishment of the Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Surabaya, the second largest city of Indonesia and capital of East Java Province. Preparations for its official opening have been set in motion.
Surabaya covers an area of 326.80 square kilometers and is home to 5.6 million people, including 300,000 ethnic Chinese. In addition, more than 300 Taiwan businesses have set up operations there. As a result, China Airlines and Eva Air offer 18 flights per week between Taoyuan International Airport and the Juanda International Airport in Surabaya. Surabaya, 764 km from Jakarta, lies across the Java Sea from the main islands of Kalimantan and Sulawesi, west of Bali and Lombok islands. The excellent location has made Surabaya an agricultural, industrial, and commercial center for East Java.
Approximately 230,000 Indonesians currently work in Taiwan, forming the largest group of foreign workers here. As many of them come from East Java, the Surabaya office will offer greater convenience to those applying for a work visa, thereby easing security concerns and saving them food, lodging, and transportation costs from having to travel to Jakarta to apply for the visa. This development will also speed up their arrival, thus satisfying Taiwan’s labor market demands sooner.
Of the 170,000 trips made by ROC nationals to Indonesia each year, 65 percent are to Bali, which is only 300 km away from Surabaya. The new office will be able to provide assistance more easily, thereby improving the government’s services to ROC nationals.
Statistics show that in 2014, Taiwan is Indonesia’s 10th-largest trading partner, while Indonesia is Taiwan’s 12th-largest trading partner. The two economies are highly complementary, with labor, commercial, agricultural, and fisheries cooperation expanding in recent years. Given that Surabaya is a trade and transportation center in East Java, the establishment of this office will strengthen intergovernmental exchanges in agriculture, fisheries industries, and raw-material trade. The office will also serve Taiwanese businessmen in the region, thereby bolstering economic and trade cooperation between Taiwan and eastern Indonesia.
Indonesia is Taiwan’s fifth-largest source of overseas students. Over the past five years, the number of Indonesian students in Taiwan has risen nearly 50 percent, surpassing the 3,000 mark, and is expected to continue to rise steadily. Being the most important education center in East Java, Surabaya is home to Surabaya Taipei International School and Taiwan Education Center Indonesia. The establishment of the new office is expected to attract more students from East Java to Taiwan.
Since Taiwan and Indonesia opened representative offices in each other’s capital in 1971, bilateral relations have been steadily developing. The opening of the Surabaya office will help boost labor, economic, trade, investment, tourism, cultural, and educational exchanges, benefitting both sides.(E)