China’s state-owned enterprises, long accustomed to suppressing opposition at home, face serious challenges in democratic societies.
The Indonesian high-speed rail project exposes the fundamental mismatch between authoritarian practices and democratic governance.

2016-02-02
This is a continuation of the previous chapter.
The plan aimed to connect Jakarta and Bandung,
a distance of about 140 kilometers,
with an opening targeted for early 2019.
The total cost was approximately 5.5 billion dollars.
The Indonesian government would bear no financial burden,
nor provide guarantees.
The concession period was set at fifty years,
after which the project would be transferred to the state.
At the groundbreaking ceremony,
President Jokowi proudly emphasized cooperation between the two governments.
However,
the transport minister made it clear
that construction approval had not been granted.
Required documents had not been submitted.
Many of the submitted materials
were written in Chinese.
Evaluation was impossible.
One planned station
was to be built on an air force base.
Security concerns naturally arose.
A Singapore-based researcher pointed out
that China’s state-owned enterprises
have grown accustomed,
in their own country,
to eliminating opposition and obstacles by force.
In a democratic society,
such behavior does not work.
A deep understanding of local communities
is fundamentally lacking.