The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, conducted an official state visit to Indonesia between April 28th and 30th, holding talks with the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The two leaders announced plans to double trade between the two countries, to US$80bn by 2015, and signed agreements on economic and trade co-operation, as well as the teaching of Mandarin in Indonesian schools. Mr Wen also announced US$9bn in loans for infrastructure development and US$10bn in export credit facilities. More importantly, the visit provided Mr Wen with an opportunity to set out a case for building trust between the two countries. China is competing with the US for influence in Indonesia and elsewhere in South-east Asia. During his three-day visit Mr Wen sought to address local concerns about China's increasing influence in the region.

Recently China's commercial relationship with Indonesia has been under close scrutiny. China was Indonesia's largest trading partner in 2010, with trade between the two countries worth US$36bn, according to figures from the IMF. However, the terms of trade are increasingly controversial. Indonesia mostly exports primary commodities to China. In April the head of the trade commission in the House of People's Representatives (DPR, the legislature), Airlangga Hartarto, said that the relationship was "not fair for Indonesia". Concerns over the trade imbalance have worsened since a free-trade agreement (FTA) between China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) took effect in January 2010. As recently as in 2007 Indonesia ran a trade surplus of US$1.1bn with China, but this had become a deficit of US$4.7bn by 2010, when the deficit widened by 89%. Calls are multiplying to renegotiate the terms of the FTA.

Furthermore, China is seen as driving hard bargains in negotiations over contracts for natural resources, resulting in poor prices for Indonesian producers, while the export of raw commodities results in little value-addition or job-creation in Indonesia. Resentment of what is perceived to be an exploitative relationship is growing within political circles. In April the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that it would seek to negotiate a higher price for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) that it sells to China from the Tangguh gasfield in West Papua province. Indonesia and China have a 25-year agreement for the annual supply of 2.6m tonnes of LNG from the Tangguh field.