Prabowo Subianto, President-elect of the Republic of Indonesia and Great Indonesia Movement Party General Chairman, paid a visit to China at the beginning of April. Prabowo was elected in February but will not assume office until October. Signifying his commitment to continue the friendly relations carefully nurtured by his outgoing predecessor President Joko Widodo, China was his first overseas destination since his election victory.
Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Prabowo on April 1. He congratulated Prabowo on winning the election and asked him 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 entered a new stage of building a community with a shared future.
Xi said China and Indonesia are both representatives of major developing countries and emerging markets. In the past, the two countries have supported each other in the cause of national independence and development, while in the future, the two countries should also unite in good faith to set an example of win-win cooperation and shared development and become a pacesetter for South-South cooperation.
He added that China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Indonesia on poverty reduction and eradication and provide support in this regard.
Noting that at present, momentous changes not seen in a century are accelerating across the world, Xi said the two sides should actively practice the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, vigorously promote the Bandung spirit of solidarity, friendship and cooperation, promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and inclusive economic globalisation that benefits all, strengthen multilateral coordination, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries. (The 1955 Bandung Afro-Asian Conference was hosted by Indonesia’s first President Sukarno and inspired the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement six years later.)
Prabowo conveyed President Joko Widodo’s sincere greetings to Xi, and said he is delighted to make China the first country he visits after being elected. China, he added, is a major influential country and the two countries always respect each other and treat each other as equals.
Prabowo noted that China is a strong partner of Indonesia and Chinese enterprises have participated in-depth in Indonesia’s economic growth and contributed to Indonesia’s national development in recent years.
He said that he supports the development of a closer relationship with China and will continue his country’s friendly policy toward China, adhere to independence and stick to the one-China policy that is always pursued by the Indonesian government.
He appreciated that China has always upheld fairness and justice in international affairs, especially on the Palestinian question, adding that Indonesia is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China on international and regional affairs and make a greater contribution to South-South cooperation.
The next day Prabowo met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Prabowo’s decision to visit China as his first country after being elected once again demonstrates the profound friendship between China and Indonesia, Li said.
He added that the two sides should further enhance the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Indonesia’s development strategies, accelerate the construction of key projects, deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, expand cooperation in high-tech and emerging industries, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in areas related to people’s livelihood.
China is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with Indonesia in multilateral fields such as the United Nations and the East Asia cooperation mechanism, jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries, defend international fairness and justice, promote the development of the global governance system in a more just and equitable direction, and make positive contributions to regional and global prosperity and stability.
Prabowo said he came to China on his first official visit after being elected to consolidate the friendship and cooperation and upgrade the relations with China.
Hailing China’s great achievements, he said the new government is willing to learn from China’s experience, further deepen cooperation in infrastructure construction, agriculture, poverty alleviation, people’s livelihood, and green economy, build closer bilateral relations, and make positive contributions to regional and world peace and development.
Prabowo currently serves as Indonesia’s Defence Minister and he also met with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on April 2.
Reporting the visit, the Reuters news agency noted that: “Prabowo’s decision to visit China ahead of Indonesia’s neighbours in the region underlines the close partnership built up in the past decade under Jokowi, when China became Indonesia’s top trading partner…
“Jokowi’s first visit after his inauguration was to China, for an annual summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders in 2014. That was followed by six more visits.
“China has also ploughed billions into Indonesian infrastructure and industrial projects, including the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.”
The following articles were originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.
Xi holds talks with Indonesia’s president-elect
BEIJING, April 1 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with President-elect of the Republic of Indonesia and Great Indonesia Movement Party General Chairman Prabowo Subianto, who is on a visit to China, 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 entered a new stage of building a community with a shared future.
China views its relations with Indonesia from a strategic and long-term perspective, and is willing to deepen all-round strategic cooperation with Indonesia, Xi said.
He said China will 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 regional and world peace, stability and prosperity.
Xi said the key to successful China-Indonesia relations is to adhere to strategic independence, mutual trust and mutual assistance, win-win cooperation, and fairness and justice.
Xi said China and Indonesia are both representatives of major developing countries and emerging markets. In the past, the two countries have always supported each other in the cause of national independence and development, he said, while in the future, the two countries should also unite in good faith to set an example of win-win cooperation and shared development, and become a pacesetter for South-South cooperation.
The two sides should firmly follow the development path suited to their own national conditions, firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security and development interests, and understand and support each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns, according to Xi.
Xi said China is willing to maintain close exchanges with Indonesia, share experience on governance, strengthen synergy of development strategies, further promote the construction of the “Two Countries, Twin Parks” and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor, and continue to deepen maritime cooperation.
He added that China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Indonesia on poverty reduction and eradication, and provide support in this regard.
Noting that at present, momentous changes not seen in a century are accelerating across the world, Xi said the two sides should actively practice the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, vigorously promote the Bandung spirit of solidarity, friendship and cooperation, promote an equal and orderly multi-polar world and inclusive economic globalization that benefits all, strengthen multilateral coordination, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries.
Xi said China is ready to work with Indonesia to uphold ASEAN unity and centrality, maintain an open and inclusive regional architecture, and build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.
Prabowo conveyed President Joko Widodo’s sincere greetings to Xi, and said he is delighted to make China the first country he visits after being elected.
China is a major influential country, and the two countries always respect each other and treat each other as equals, he added.
He expressed admiration for the great achievements made by the Chinese people under the leadership of President Xi. He said he is willing to learn from the experience of the Communist Party of China and deepen exchanges on governance.
Prabowo noted that China is a strong partner of Indonesia, and Chinese enterprises have participated in-depth in Indonesia’s economic growth and contributed to Indonesia’s national development in recent years.
He said that he supports the development of a closer relationship with China and will continue the country’s friendly policy toward China, adhere to independence and stick to the one-China policy that is always pursued by the Indonesian government.
Prabowo added that Indonesia and China will firmly support each other’s core interests, promote the comprehensive and high-quality development of bilateral relations, and implement the important consensus of building a community of shared future between the two countries.
The new Indonesian government is willing to actively strengthen the alignment of the development strategies of the two countries and push for more cooperation results in various fields such as economy, trade and poverty alleviation to further benefit the two peoples, Prabowo said.
He said he appreciated that China has always upheld fairness and justice in international affairs, especially on the Palestinian question, adding that Indonesia is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with China on international and regional affairs, and make a greater contribution to South-South cooperation.
Chinese premier meets Indonesian president-elect
BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with the President-elect of the Republic of Indonesia and Great Indonesia Movement Party General Chairman Prabowo Subianto in Beijing on Tuesday.
Li said that in recent years, under the guidance of the two heads of state, China-Indonesia relations have developed rapidly, opening a new chapter in building a China-Indonesia community with a shared future.
Prabowo’s decision to visit China as his first country after being elected once again demonstrates the profound friendship between China and Indonesia, Li said.
He said China is ready to work with Indonesia to maintain high-level strategic mutual trust, deepen all-round mutually beneficial cooperation, and push for deeper and more concrete progress in building a community with a shared future to achieve more win-win outcomes and bring more benefits to the two peoples.
Li said China is willing to maintain the good momentum of high-level exchanges with Indonesia, make good use of dialogue mechanisms at all levels, and strengthen policy communication and coordination.
He said the two sides should further enhance the synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Indonesia’s development strategies, accelerate the construction of key projects, deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as agriculture, forestry and fishing, expand cooperation in high-tech and emerging industries, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation in areas related to people’s livelihood.
China is ready to strengthen communication and cooperation with Indonesia in multilateral fields such as the United Nations and the East Asia cooperation mechanism, jointly safeguard the interests of developing countries, defend international fairness and justice, promote the development of the global governance system in a more just and equitable direction, and make positive contributions to regional and global prosperity and stability, Li said.
Noting that Indonesia has a long history of exchanges with China, Prabowo expressed appreciation for China’s respect for and friendship with Indonesia and the Indonesian people, and thanked China for its strong support and assistance.
Prabowo said he came to China on his first official visit after being elected to consolidate the friendship and cooperation and upgrade the relations with China.
Hailing China’s great achievements, he said the new government is willing to learn from China’s experience, further deepen cooperation in infrastructure construction, agriculture, poverty alleviation, people’s livelihood and green economy, build closer bilateral relations, and make positive contributions to regional and world peace and development.
