Kiki Siregar, Liquica, Timor-Leste/Morowali, Indonesia: Most people would not be thrilled to be surrounded by a sea of trash daily, but Dion Gonsalves feels blessed to have the opportunity to work at a 23ha dumpsite in Liquica district, west of Timor-Leste's capital Dili.
The dumpsite will soon be Timor-Leste's first landfill with an integrated dumping and recycling system. Expected to be completed later this year, it will be able to process about 200 tonnes of waste daily, aiding in the country's waste management efforts.
Gonsalves and dozens of other Timorese work for China Harbour Engineering Company, which designed, built and will operate the landfill.
China Harbour Engineering Company is one of many Chinese firms operating in Timor-Leste, Asia's youngest country which became independent in 2002.
"I think the government of Timor-Leste welcomes Chinese companies which are interested in developing this country," said Gonsalves, the firm's operations manager.
"I think it is positive (that they operate in Timor-Leste). There is development (due to their presence) in this country. Because this country is a young country, I think we need a lot of companies coming to invest," said the 36-year-old, who has worked there for 12 years.
Like other Southeast Asian countries, Timor-Leste has seen China's involvement in major infrastructure projects such as its national power grid and the presidential palace.
China is the third-largest source of foreign direct investment for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, after the United States and European Union, according to the ASEAN Secretariat. China's investment in ASEAN was US$17.3 billion in 2023.
While some projects have brought benefits to the local community, there have been drawbacks and fears of locals and homegrown enterprises being outmuscled and stifled.
An annual ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute survey released on Apr 3 shows that China remains the most influential economic and political-strategic power in Southeast Asia, ahead of the US by some margin.
The State of Southeast Asia Survey, now in its seventh year, sought the views of 2,023 regional opinion leaders on topics such as rising protectionism and geopolitical events.
If forced to align with one strategic rival, however, respondents picked the US over China in this year's survey after tilting towards China last year.
The survey also includes perspectives of Timorese for the first time, as momentum builds for Timor-Leste to become a full member of ASEAN. But responses from Timor-Leste were not used to calculate average figures for ASEAN in the survey.
Timorese made up 3.3 per cent of respondents, and just over half (51.5 per cent) said China was the most influential economic power in Southeast Asia.
Among the Timorese who chose China, about seven in 10 said they were worried about its growing regional economic influence while the remainder said they welcomed it. This was higher than the ASEAN respondents' average of just over six in 10 (61.9 per cent) who said they were worried.
According to people CNA spoke to in Timor-Leste and neighbouring Indonesia, while there are some positive economic benefits from Chinese-backed enterprises, certain projects have also had negative consequences, leading to perceptions that China is overly dominant and its presence in Southeast Asia should be scaled back.
'They dominate all aspects of life here'
China was one of the first countries to recognise Timor-Leste's independence and has offered support from the early days.
On a workday afternoon in Dili, Jaimito Da Cruz stood on the sidelines of a football field donated by the Chinese embassy in Timor-Leste, cheering on youngsters on the pitch.
He works as a nurse at a health clinic in Dili, but since the Chinese embassy donated the football field at the end of 2022, Da Cruz has spent his free time training a younger generation to become the next Pele.
Da Cruz, 30, is grateful for the football field downtown, which is accessible to all.
With a population of about 1.4 million, Timor-Leste is one of Asia's poorest countries. Without a manufacturing base, it is reliant on imports as well as oil and gas income.
China, the world's second-biggest economy, has helped by providing funding for projects. Its companies, including state-owned firms, have also won contracts to build infrastructure crucial to the country's development.
Da Cruz believes there are two sides to Chinese presence in Timor-Leste.
"They open up employment opportunities for young people here, both male and female. That's the good point. It reduces unemployment," he said.
But the flip side is that as Timor-Leste opens up, Chinese companies are crowding out the industries previously dominated by locals, he said.
"They dominate all aspects of life here, so Timorese have limited opportunities to participate in doing business, setting up restaurants or building infrastructure," he said.
In an interview with CNA, Timor-Leste President Jose Ramos-Horta said China's presence "has been enormously beneficial to our economy".
"(It became) much cheaper to build a home. Much cheaper to buy equipment that you need for agriculture, for irrigation, for your home appliances and all of that," he said, comparing present conditions to the early days of Timor-Leste's independence.
He claimed that without the Chinese businesses, the country would return to the early days of its independence, from 2002 to 2007, "when everything was so expensive".
For instance, an A4 writing notebook used to cost around US$20 before Chinese merchants set up shop, but now costs less than US$5. The average monthly wage in 2021 was about US$250.
Dexter Deng, a Chinese business executive who has been working in Timor-Leste for two years, made the personal decision to head to the country as a response to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China's grand scheme started in 2013 to connect Asia, Africa and Europe through land and maritime networks.
Working for the Timor-Leste International Trade Promotion and Development Council, a venture established by Chinese and Timorese individuals that focuses on building infrastructure in Timor-Leste, Deng introduces Chinese entrepreneurs to the Timorese government and seeks opportunities for collaboration between the two countries.
He shares the view that the influx of Chinese goods into Timor-Leste has made prices more affordable. "It has two aspects. We cannot just criticise it," he said.
Timorese feel left behind
China's presence in Timor-Leste's economy has grown, especially in the past two years after the COVID-19 pandemic, and has expanded beyond infrastructure projects, said business people in the country.
Timorese Kathleen Goncalves, vice-president of Timor-Leste's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Chinese entrepreneurs started to come to Timor-Leste in the early 2000s when the country was transitioning to independence after being occupied by Indonesia.
Today, they are everywhere in the nation, she stated.
"The presence of Chinese companies in Timor-Leste is increasing day by day. Not month by month or year by year; it's day by day," said Goncalves, who has been in the construction and food and beverage industries for more than 20 years.
"Chinese companies came to Timor-Leste like a tsunami."
According to her, Chinese nationals form the biggest group of foreign business people in Timor-Leste.
Compared to Timor-Leste's "small" business community and its underdeveloped manufacturing sector, Chinese businesses have more capital and experience, she said.
"The local businesses feel threatened (with regard to) skills development, prices, service competition and market knowledge," she said.
"They feel they are left behind."
Herna Gulo, who has run a grocery store in Dili for 20 years with her husband, is one of them.
She considered their business relatively successful until about two years ago when a Chinese retailer set up a bigger, more modern store next door with items far cheaper than theirs.
Locals were initially happy with the presence of Chinese businesses as they imported and sold everyday items like shoes and stationery at lower prices than before, she said.
But over time, the local community grew worried about the "massive" impact on both large and small businesses.
"It is difficult to compete with them. Even many shops from Indonesia and other countries are slowly beginning to disappear one by one."
Gulo revealed that she and her husband could earn tens of thousands of US dollars per month before they had a direct competitor next door.
Since then, their income has been reduced by 50 per cent.
Toni Khuan, the manager of the grocery store next door, told CNA why its items were cheap.
"Our products are from China. So when it comes to the price, the locals cannot compete," said Khuan, an Indonesian who moved from West Kalimantan to work in Dili.
According to Chinese entrepreneur Wang Jia Sheng, the Chinese government gives incentives such as rental subsidies and tax exemptions to companies operating abroad, which enabled her to set up a burger restaurant in Dili about a year ago. She decided to seek her fortune in Timor-Leste after hearing about untapped business opportunities there from a friend.
Back home, competition is fierce and even though Timor-Leste is less modern than China, Wang is happy to call it her second home.
"Timor-Leste is a beautiful country. I like the country," said Wang, who is vice-president of the Association of Chinese Youth Entrepreneurs in Timor-Leste, which has 300 members.
"I think the locals love my food (her burgers)," she said with a laugh.
The rise of Chinese merchants in the country is worrying, admitted Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao when CNA met him late last year.
"It is a problem. The problem is we have to push to improve the culture of (doing) business," Gusmao told CNA a day after he met the vice-chairperson of the national committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at his office in Dili.
"Because the problem is, also, we are importing everything. And in the economic field, we have to change this. We have to start producing," he said.
Gusmao said the government is thinking of creating a development bank to help micro and small enterprises so that its people can engage in production and not be dependent on imports.
China is among Timor-Leste's top import sources, with about US$262 million worth of goods imported in 2023, according to the United Nations Comtrade database.
However, Gusmao dismissed the assumption that Timor-Leste depends on China.
"I don't say that we are dependent on China. Now we are dependent on the imports from ASEAN countries," he said.
Indonesia, which shares the other part of Timor island with Timor-Leste, outperforms China regarding imports.
Southeast Asia's largest economy exported US$340 million worth of goods to Timor-Leste in 2023, making Indonesia its top import source.
Having applied to be a member of ASEAN in 2011, Gusmao hopes Timor-Leste can finally be the group's 11th member this year. "ASEAN has already proven that economically it is a centre of the world and we try to take advantage of this progress and have some of the benefits," he said.
The good and the risky at Indonesia's nickel hubs
Indonesia is also no stranger to Chinese infrastructure and investments.
Southeast Asia's first high-speed train Whoosh, which was launched in October 2023 and connects Jakarta with Bandung, was the first major BRI project completed in Indonesia.
In Central Sulawesi, the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) produces nickel, a crucial component in many products such as batteries for electric vehicles.
Launched in 2015, IMIP has about 94,000 workers. Nearly 8,500 of them are Chinese, making up close to 10 per cent of the workforce, IMIP's head of media relations Dedy Kurniawan told CNA.
Spanning 2,000ha, IMIP is an integrated stainless steel and nickel production centre. It has 56 tenants, which include many Chinese companies such as Shanghai Decent Investment, a subsidiary of the world's largest stainless steel producer Tsingshan.
The government claims that IMIP's presence has spurred development in Morowali, which lacked electricity supply a decade ago.
When CNA visited Morowali last year, IMIP appeared to have attracted people from other parts of the vast island.
Originally from Southeast Sulawesi, Aris and Sahidah set up a small grocery stall in Morowali a few years ago to make a better living.
In their hometown, they earned about 1.5 million rupiah (US$91) monthly selling clothes at a traditional market but in Morowali, they manage to make about 5 million rupiah each month.
CNA also spoke to an employee from one of IMIP's tenants, whose largest shareholder is Chinese.
"What makes me stay on (at IMIP) is my boss. Some think foreign or Chinese workers are stingy and burden their employees greatly. But in my department, it's fine. Everything is fine," said Asri from South Sulawesi, who asked to be known only by her first name.
"What's important is that the work is finished on time and there are no mistakes. So for about 1.5 years that I've worked at IMIP, I've been happy because my foreign boss is very friendly and kind," said Asri, an administrator in her late twenties.
Other IMIP workers were dissatisfied with their work conditions and cited a lack of occupational health and safety measures.
"The women's toilet in the warehouse area for us Indonesian employees is very bad, inhumane," said 32-year-old Winarsih, who only wants to be known by her first name.
"The water is not clean, there are no water closets, only channel drains; (it cannot) be called a toilet."
Another employee Mulyono (not his real name), who works for a Chinese tenant of IMIP in the health, safety and environment department, claimed workers had limited access to personal protective equipment and, when he confronted his Chinese supervisors about it, they cited a limited budget.
"It means that production comes first, safety comes second. They don't implement preventive measures."
Work-related accidents leading to deaths are not uncommon at IMIP, according to Mulyono.
Some fatal accidents reported by Indonesian media include the death of an employee of PT Ocean Sky Metal Industry on Feb 16 this year after being crushed by a 150kg weight. Another worker died in an explosion at PT Dexin Steel Indonesia in October 2024.
According to non-governmental organisation Trend Asia, which focuses on sustainable energy, dozens of accidents have occurred at IMIP since 2015.
A major one happened in Dec 2023 when a furnace at PT Indonesia Tshingshan Stainless Steel exploded, killing 21 people.
There have also been protests leading to clashes. The latest occurred in early March when IMIP prohibited open-bed trucks ferrying people from entering the site.
A new regulation now requires people to be transported by bus due to safety concerns. But some contractors have resisted the rule, resulting in clashes with security personnel and fire being set to patrol vehicles.
"What we did (issue a new regulation) is an effort to maintain the safety and security of contractor workers, and part of our efforts to enforce state regulations and comply with government regulations regarding occupational safety and health," said Dedy of IMIP.
Pollution and agrarian conflict
Chinese-backed projects in Morowali have also resulted in environmental degradation and pollution, said some locals living near IMIP.
Morowali faces the Banda Sea, which is part of the Coral Triangle that has the highest coral diversity in the world.
The rich marine ecosystem allows local fishermen to make a living, but things have changed since the establishment of IMIP.
The water is now brown and murky from industrial waste discharged into the sea, according to locals, and it is now hard for fishermen to get a decent catch.
"I now have to go very far to catch fish," said fisherman Man, who goes by one name.
The air is also not as clean as it was about 10 years ago, locals told CNA.
Teacher Saharudin, whose Islamic junior high school Al-Jariyah is right behind IMIP, says it is very noisy and his students commonly come down with sore throat and cough.
"There is dust not only from the road but... (from) the companies' coal power plant, so the school's floor is black even though we sweep it every day," said Saharudin, who goes by one name. Coal, which powers the industrial operations, is the most pollutive of fossil fuels.
IMIP and its tenants have never compensated surrounding residents for their suffering, he added.
Dedy from IMIP said that Indonesia does not have regulations on compensating for dust inhaled, but he claimed the industrial park has plans to help the school with its expansion.
Two hours' drive north from IMIP, the expansion of another industrial complex, the Indonesia Huabao Industrial Park (IHIP), has taken over a road in Topogaro village, preventing locals from passing through.
The agrarian conflict has triggered protests by villagers, who blockaded the road on Mar 11, 15, and Jun 20 last year.
As a result, IHIP – which also focuses on nickel processing – claims it has incurred losses. It sued five people, demanding compensation of 14 billion rupiah, the losses it apparently incurred during the three-day blockade. IHIP is operated by Yashi Indonesia Investment, which was set up by Zhenshi Holding Group, Shanghai Decent Investment and Zhejiang Huajun.
Villager Safa'at Ladanu, 42, one of the people being sued, said residents are upset not only about the road, but about IHIP's presence and its negative impact for the last three years.
"What about the impact of the coal ash (from the power plant)? The community is exposed to acute respiratory infections. Not to mention the noise," he said.
"Every day, our sleep is disturbed by the sound of company activities, and there is also garbage and diseases. If we talk about losses, we also suffer from losses."
CNA has reached out to IHIP for comments.
More social interactions needed
It is understandable that locals have some grievances with China's dominance in the region, experts said.
Habib Dzakwan, a researcher focusing on China at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank in Jakarta, said this is especially the case in resource-rich areas of Indonesia such as Morowali and Papua, where locals do not gain much from development, compared to foreign businesses.
He said one of the ways people in Morowali can gain control over the situation is by pursuing a class action against parties they believe are responsible for environmental degradation.
"They can also file a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission," he said.
But redress also depends on the government's political will and whether it chooses to use its power to protect citizens, he said.
As China continues to expand its role in the world economy, Habib said its presence in Indonesia and Timor-Leste is likely to grow.
"I think China is an indispensable partner for many developing countries," he said.
For its part, Indonesia could share with Timor-Leste its experience in helping small and medium enterprises – for example, to access financing and to be resilient, he stated.
Goncalves of Timor-Leste's Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the government should introduce more initiatives to strengthen locals' skills and knowledge, and develop a legal framework to support the private sector.
"For example, provide access to finance and land ownership with... lower interest rates from the banks," she said.
In general, there should also be more social interaction between Chinese migrants and local workers so they can understand each other better, Habib said. The government can help by providing language classes to bridge the gap.
Specifically for workers in industrial parks like IMIP, Habib believes Chinese companies should inform local workers about the corporate culture and what is expected of them. Employers, he added, should also listen to staff complaints and seek to understand the local culture.
Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat, director of the China-Indonesia desk at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (CELIOS), said his institution conducted an online survey last year on Indonesian perceptions of China's influence.
About 57 per cent of the 1,414 respondents worry that growing dependence on China may worsen negative views.
CELIOS' survey aimed to provide insights on the dynamics of Indonesia's relationship with China, especially with the change in presidency from Joko Widodo to Prabowo Subianto in October last year.
About 58 per cent of the respondents want the Indonesian government to enhance economic cooperation with China, but the public's perception of China's infrastructure projects in Indonesia is not all rosy. About 43 per cent believe such projects contribute to environmental damage in Indonesia.
The government should not be afraid to negotiate with China to secure the best benefits for Indonesian workers, Zulfikar said.
"If (Indonesia's leaders) think we need China, and they don't care about people's perceptions, then this could make China also not care about (locals') perceptions," he said.