Posted inOpinion

Whoosh train woes are Indonesia’s, not a China debt trap

When President Joko Widodo shocked Japan by choosing China to build Indonesia’s first high-speed rail line in 2015, he wasn’t surrendering to Beijing’s influence. He was asserting independence. The Chinese offer to build the Jakarta–Bandung railway—now known as Whoosh—came without government guarantees or direct fiscal burden. It looked like a pragmatic decision by a rising […]

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