BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping said China is ready to deepen all-round strategic cooperation with Indonesia during talks with President-elect of the Republic of Indonesia and Great Indonesia Movement Party General Chairman Prabowo Subianto in Beijing on Monday.
Xi congratulated Prabowo on winning the election and asked Prabowo to relay sincere greetings and best wishes to President Joko Widodo.
Recalling the rapidly developing and fruitful bilateral ties over the past decade under the guidance of the two heads of state, Xi said both sides have made the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway an exemplar of high-quality bilateral cooperation and the countries have entered a new stage of building a community with a shared future.
The Chinese side views China-Indonesia relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, said Xi.
China is ready to work with Indonesia to build a China-Indonesia community with a shared future that has regional and global influence, so as to bring more benefits to the two peoples and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world, he added.
Xi said the key to the achievements in China-Indonesia relations lies in both countries’ adherence to strategic independence, mutual trust and assistance, win-win cooperation, and fairness and justice.
China and Indonesia are both major developing countries and emerging markets, he said.
In the past, the two countries always supported each other in the struggle for national independence and national construction, said Xi. In the future, both countries should remain united to become a model of promoting mutual benefit, win-win outcome and common development between countries, and a pioneer of South-South cooperation, he added.
Both countries should firmly follow a development path that suits their own national conditions, he said.
The two countries should also firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security, and development interests, and understand and support each other on issues involving each other’s core interests and major concerns, Xi said.
He said China is willing to maintain close exchanges with Indonesia, exchange experience in state governance, strengthen the alignment of development strategies, promote construction of the “Two Countries, Twin Parks” and the “Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor,” and continue to deepen maritime cooperation.
China is also ready to strengthen cooperation and provide support with Indonesia in poverty reduction and alleviation, added Xi.
Noting the accelerating changes in the world unseen in a century, Xi said China and Indonesia should practice the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, carry forward the Bandung Spirit of unity, friendship and cooperation, promote an equal and orderly multi-polar world and universal and inclusive economic globalization, strengthen multilateral collaboration, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.
China is willing to work with Indonesia to safeguard the unity and centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), maintain an open and inclusive regional architecture, and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, said Xi.
Chinese President Xi Jinping holds talks with Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto in Beijing, China, April 1, 2024. /Xinhua
On his part, Prabowo said he is delighted to make China the first country he visits after being elected.
Describing China as a major country with important influence, he said Indonesia and China have always respected each other and treated each other as equals.
China is a robust cooperative partner of Indonesia, said Prabowo, adding that Chinese companies have actively and deeply participated in Indonesia’s economic construction and assisted the country’s national development in recent years.
Prabowo voiced full support for the development of a closer relationship between Indonesia and China, and said he is ready to continue the country’s friendly policy toward China.
He expressed readiness to remain independent, adhere to the one-China policy that the Indonesian government has always pursued, and work with China to firmly support each other’s core interests.
Indonesia will work with China to promote a more comprehensive relationship of high-quality development and follow through the important consensus on building a community with a shared future between the two countries, said Prabowo.
The new Indonesian administration is willing to actively advance the alignment of development strategies of the two countries, and promote more outcomes from cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, and poverty alleviation to further benefit the two peoples, he said.
Prabowo also expressed appreciation for China’s upholding of fairness and justice in international affairs, especially on the Palestinian issue.
Indonesia is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China on international and regional affairs and make greater contributions to South-South cooperation, he said.
