JAKARTA: Indonesia has become the latest election battleground for Beijing’s soaring economic clout, as the opposition warns pro-China policies are saddling the mineral-rich archipelago with bad debt as it is sold off piecemeal to foreign interests.Business links with top trade partner China have been thrust into the spotlight by ex-general Prabowo Subianto who is challenging Indonesian leader Joko Widodo for the presidency of South-East Asia’s largest economy on Wednesday.
Trailing by double digits in the polls, Prabowo has leaned on a fiery nationalist ticket and pledged to re-evaluate Chinese investment, even as Jakarta courts huge contracts from Beijing’s US$1.0 trillion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
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