Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, as Widodo visited the city to attend the opening ceremony of the 31st summer edition of the FISU World University Games.
Experts noted that the two sides summarized the achievements of the 10-year comprehensive strategic partnership during the important meeting, and laid a solid foundation for future cooperation. The collaboration between China and Indonesia has created a new model of South-South cooperation, fostering mutual help and mutual learning for common development, they said.
2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Indonesia. Xi said China is willing to take the occasion as an opportunity to deepen strategic cooperation with Indonesia, set an example for developing countries of sharing a common future, pursuing solidarity and cooperation and boosting common development, and inject more certainty and positive energy into the region and the world, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi noted the opening of a new chapter in building a China-Indonesia community with a shared future last year.
China is willing to maintain regular strategic communication with Indonesia, strengthen the exchanges of state governance experience, initiate the “2+2” dialogue mechanism for foreign and defense ministers of the two countries, and build high-level strategic mutual trust, Xi said.
The Chinese president said that major achievements have been made in synergizing the Belt and Road Initiative with Indonesia’s vision of the Global Maritime Fulcrum.
China is ready to deepen its comprehensive strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and support the work of Indonesia as the rotating chair of the ASEAN, Xi said.
Experts said 2023 is a very important year in China-Indonesia relations, not only that it marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Indonesia, but also marks the 10th anniversary of Xi’s proposal to build a closely-knit China-ASEAN community with a shared future during his visit to Indonesia, and the first year of building a China-Indonesia community with a shared future.
The important meeting highlights the friendship between China and Indonesia, Xu Liping, director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“Through this meeting, the two sides further strengthened the connotation of China-Indonesia community with a shared future, summarized the achievements of the 10-year comprehensive strategic partnership and laid a solid foundation for the next step of cooperation,” Xu said.
The signing of bilateral cooperation documents after the meeting also indicates that the two sides will inject some more practical connotations into the cooperation under the framework at the level of pragmatic cooperation, Xu said.
China is willing to continue to expand imports of bulk commodities and high-quality agricultural products from Indonesia, deliver on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and strengthen cooperation in fields including food security, poverty reduction, rural revitalization, vocational education, language education, medicine and health, culture and tourism, said President Xi.
Xi also noted that China supports Indonesia in developing its new capital and the North Kalimantan Industrial Park, and is willing to expand cooperation in areas including new energy vehicles and smart cities and jointly promote the industrial digital transformation.
“Take agricultural imports as an example, it can address the trade imbalance between the two countries,” Xu said. “This cooperation will enable China’s development to benefit the Indonesian people more, which is a completely pragmatic cooperation initiative.”
Another focus of the cooperation is the construction of Indonesia’s new capital, a long-term project in which Indonesia considers China’s participation very important, he said.
With the Jakarta-Bandung High-speed Railway soon coming into operation, the two sides need to ensure the high standard and high quality of the project, injecting more impetus to Indonesia’s development, said Xi, adding that the two countries need to further the cooperation on comprehensive industrial parks.
The pragmatic cooperation projects between China and Indonesia reflect the potential for cooperation between the two sides, especially the complementarity of such cooperation in the global South, Xu told the Global Times.
For the global South, development is a common task, but each country is at a different stage of development, so their markets are not quite the same, he said. “The cooperation between China and Indonesia appears to have created a new model of South-South cooperation – a kind of mutual help and mutual learning for common development, which reflects the charm of developing countries’ solidarity and cooperation.”
Xu said China, in particular, as the largest developing country, is able to add its own development experience and technology to the cooperation with developing countries, which reflects China’s image as a responsible major country.
Xu also said that cooperation among countries of the global South has always been obstructed by some developed countries.
“But countries like China and Indonesia know exactly what they want and have strategic autonomy. Such cooperation will not be affected by developed countries, especially certain hegemonic countries,” Xu said.
China stands ready to strengthen communication and coordination with Indonesia under G20, BRICS and other multilateral mechanisms, promote the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, safeguard regional and global peace and stability, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, Xi said.
Widodo said the bilateral relations have made substantial progress since he received Xi in Bali last year.
Indonesia firmly upholds the one-China policy and is willing to continue to enhance cooperation with China in areas including investment, marine fisheries, food security and healthcare, he said.
The Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative put forward by Xi are open and inclusive, Widodo said, adding that Indonesia actively supports the initiatives.
Indonesia is willing to strengthen its strategic communication with China and jointly safeguard regional peace, stability, development and prosperity, Widodo said.
(Global Times)
