29/4/06 JAKARTA, (UPI) -- China is planning $7 billion in investments in Indonesia that will bring jobs and modern amenities, but at significant environmental cost.

The Indonesian government signed a deal with China that will result in the leveling of much of the remaining tropical forests in Borneo, in an area so vital it is sometimes called the lungs of Southeast Asia, The New York Times reported.

The deal is a double bounty for China, the newspaper said. Wood from the forest will provide flooring and furniture for its expanding middle class, and the trees will be replaced with vast plantations for palm oil -- an increasingly popular ingredient in detergents, soaps and lipstick.

The forest-to-palm-oil deal illustrates the increasingly symbiotic relationship between China's need for a wide variety of raw materials, and its Asian neighbors' readiness to provide them, often at enormous environmental cost, the Times said.

China recently placed a $1 billion rush order for a prized reddish-brown hardwood, called merbau, to be used in construction of its sports facilities for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.