China, Indonesia pledge to enhance bilateral strategic partnership

China and Indonesia have vowed to further strengthen their bilateral strategic partnership, according to a joint communique released Friday.

During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's official visit in Indonesia, he held in-depth talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on bilateral ties, as well as a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern, said the communique.

The communique said both leaders have reached "important agreement."

"The two sides agreed to take further steps to enhance the existing close relations in the political field, deepen and widen economic and trade ties, promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people interaction and expand international cooperation under the framework of China-Indonesia strategic partnership," it said.

President Yudhoyono reaffirmed his nation's adherence to the one-China policy and supported "peaceful reunification of China," while Premier Wen reiterated China's firm support and respect for Indonesia's national unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Both sides recognized the importance of intensifying mutual visits among leaders of the two nations and of enhancing high-level strategic dialogue mechanism.

Thus, they agreed to further strengthen bilateral consultation between the coordinating minister fChina and Indonesia have vowed to further strengthen their bilateral strategic partnership, according to a joint communique released Friday.

During Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's official visit in Indonesia, he held in-depth talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on bilateral ties, as well as a number of regional and international issues of mutual concern, said the communique.

The communique said both leaders have reached "important agreement."

"The two sides agreed to take further steps to enhance the existing close relations in the political field, deepen and widen economic and trade ties, promote cultural exchanges and people-to-people interaction and expand international cooperation under the framework of China-Indonesia strategic partnership," it said.

President Yudhoyono reaffirmed his nation's adherence to the one-China policy and supported "peaceful reunification of China," while Premier Wen reiterated China's firm support and respect for Indonesia's national unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Both sides recognized the importance of intensifying mutual visits among leaders of the two nations and of enhancing high-level strategic dialogue mechanism.

Thus, they agreed to further strengthen bilateral consultation between the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs of Indonesia and the state councilor of the State Council of China.

By signing a memorandum of understanding between the two nations' foreign ministries on joint activities, the two sides aim to step up mutual exchanges, training for diplomats, policy planning and research as well as the establishment of hotlines between officials of the foreign ministries at various levels, said the communique

China welcomed the forthcoming opening of Indonesia's Consulate General in Shanghai, a step to further deepen bilateral ties, it added..

The two nations also stressed the importance of maritime cooperation, adding they would step up cooperation in the fields such as safety of navigation, maritime scientific research and environmental protection.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the positive development in bilateral economic relations, and reached agreement on striving toward a new target of 80 billion U.S. dollars in trade volume by 2015, said the communique.

Premier Wen, who arrived in Jakarta on Thursday evening, reiterated China's firm commitment to facilitate and promote more imports from Indonesia and enhance Indonesia's industrial capacity through, among others, increasing China's investment in the industrial sectors in Indonesia.

Both sides agreed to actively encourage and support their enterprises to increase and expand two-way investment flows, including promoting direct dialogue between relevant associations from both sides, said the communique.

The two nations also reaffirmed their commitment to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of agriculture, while underlining their readiness to solidify and expand cooperation in oil and gas, coal and electricity, and actively explore cooperation opportunities in new and renewable energies, it said.
Regarding the fields of defense and security, both sides shared the view on the importance of further strengthening strategic defense cooperation to address the traditional and non-traditional security challenges of the 21st century, the communique said.

The two nations were committed to further enhancing the implementation of defense and capacity-building cooperation, including joint exercises, maritime security, national defense industry and exchanges and cooperation in non-traditional security fields.

The two countries underlined the importance of establishing a bilateral cooperative mechanism to enhance consultation and coordination in disaster preparedness and mitigation, including sharing of information and best practices as well as relevant personnel training, the communique said.

The two countries agreed to further enhance exchanges and cooperation in art, film, media, exhibition, sports and tourism.

In education, they agreed to further promote bilateral cooperation by means of promoting language teaching, facilitating student and lecturer exchanges, increasing the scale of scholarships and promoting mutual recognition of academic degrees.

The two sides also agreed to promote stronger academic exchanges and encouraged more intensive interactions between their think-tanks, according to the document.

Regarding regional and international issues, the two sides emphasized that they share broad common interests in promoting peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region and therefore support the establishment and improvement of an open, inclusive and mutually beneficial cooperation framework.


 The two sides reaffirmed their firm commitment to enhance coordination and cooperation in multilateral frameworks, such as ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations)+1, ASEAN+3, East Asia Summit (EAS), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), APEC and Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and to undertake joint efforts in addressing international and regional issues, the communique said.

The two sides shared the view that cooperation in multilateral fora is an important part of China-Indonesia strategic partnership, it said, adding that enhanced dialogue and cooperation between China and Indonesia, as two major developing countries, will contribute to the international efforts in addressing major challenges.

The two sides emphasized climate change should be tackled under the framework of sustainable development in keeping with the principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, the document said.

China and Indonesia also call for more efforts to continue implementing the mandate of the Bali Roadmap on the basis of the outcomes of the Cancun Conference and push for positive outcomes at the Durban Climate Change Conference at the end of this year, according to the communique.

The two sides expressed their support to expedite and deepen the reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank toward achieving the quantified reform goals as set out at the Group of 20 Summits, and agreed to maintain close consultation and coordination in this field, it added.


 Source: Xinhua