EAST JAVA: CHINESE SWEAT AND DIPLOMACY -- TRYING TO BUILD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000013

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DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, INR/EAP, EB

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ID CH
SUBJECT: EAST JAVA: CHINESE SWEAT AND DIPLOMACY -- TRYING TO BUILD
INDONESIA'S LONGEST BRIDGE

REF: 07 SURABAYA 78 COMMUNITIES UNPREPARED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SURABAYA-MADURA BRIDGE

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This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.


1. (SBU) Summary: The bridge linking Surabaya and the nearby
island of Madura is nearing completion. The Chinese continue
efforts to transform their reported USD 1.6 billion in loans and
financing into a milestone representative of China's
increasingly close economic ties with Indonesia. China's Vice
Premier Li Keqiang toured the site in late December 2008 and
called the bridge evidence of China's 'strategic partnership'
with Indonesia. ConGen Surabaya spoke with Chinese workers and
Indonesian engineers at the site. Poor coordination has delayed
work, while a clash of cultures complicates Chinese efforts to
publicize their contribution. Residents on both sides remain
unprepared for the changes the bridge will bring when it finally
opens just two months from now. End Summary

Chinese-Indonesian Partnership: Complex and Sensitive
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) When completed in April 2009, the suspension bridge
linking Surabaya with the nearby island of Madura will be
Indonesia's longest. Built by a consortium of Chinese and
Indonesian companies, the bridge symbolizes the complex
relationship between China and Indonesia and the lingering
distrust regarding Sino-Indonesian motives. Chinese Vice Premier
Li Keqiang's December 21 visit to the Surabaya-Madura bridge,
referred to locally as Suramadu, was accompanied by the
"unfreezing" of USD 68.9 million, the final tranche of financing
for the bridge. Photographs of Li's visit to the bridge received
wide media coverage. The Chinese Consul General Mr. Fu Shuigen
told us that there are no plans for another high-level visit by
Chinese officials to open the bridge; but that might change.


3. (SBU) Historic sensitivities about wealthy Sino-Indonesians
motivations persist. Our Indonesian guides to the Chinese
worksite said local officials were miffed at the high-handed
manner in which they were excluded from the visit of the Vice
Minister and other Chinese officials while they toured the site.
The presence of the Sino-Indonesian CEO of the Maspion
Corporation among the delegation reinforced the impression that
local Sino-Indonesians would benefit the most from the bridge.
One Indonesian engineer told us that local professional staff
had the impression that the Chinese construction company did not
see Indonesian colleagues on the project as full partners.


4. (SBU) Indonesians on both sides of the strait told us that
there is great sensitivity to using foreign labor on the bridge.
The 300 Chinese construction workers try to keep a low profile,
working on the Madura side where they are far from view. Chinese
workers told us that most of the workers on site had worked on
the bridge for more than two years. They live in air-conditioned
dormitories built from cargo containers fastened to the deck of
barges moored to the bridge's pylons. The workers only leave
occasionally for trips to Surabaya.

Hopefully Meeting in the Middle
--------------


5. (SBU) The Chinese consortium has completed 100% of the Madura
side of the bridge, to include asphalt and lane markings. An
Indonesian company has yet to complete the road bed on the
Surabaya side. Differences in construction approaches visible on
either side give the impression of two different bridge projects
that hope to meet each other halfway. An Indonesian engineer
told us that the Chinese pour the concrete road bed on site,
while the Indonesian side relies on prefab roadbed sections
prepared in a factory elsewhere. Difficulties making and
transporting the slabs have slowed construction.


6. (SBU) No structures have appeared near the Madura bridge
approaches on either side since our discussions with local
officials in November 2007 (reftel). The 11 kilometer road
linking the bridge to a two-lane trunk road running the length
of Madura is roughly 60 percent complete. Fearing violence,
authorities waited until after the East Java Governor's election
in late January to issue a court order to secure the parcels of
land needed to complete the road. Many people we spoke with in
Madura had heard rumors of large land purchases by outside
speculators. The Rector of a Madura's Trunojoyo University
located only miles from the bridge, contradicted this saying
local Madurese owned the land and would develop it eventually.
After many decades of planning and false starts, Surabaya and
Madura have yet to articulate a shared vision of how to take

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advantage of the bridge to change the provincial economy.
MCCLELLAND