China, Indonesia set to deepen ties

President Xi Jinping meets on Monday with Indonesia's President-elect Prabowo Subianto in Beijing. [Photo by Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily]

President Xi Jinping and Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto agreed on Monday to develop a closer relationship by deepening cooperation in various areas including poverty alleviation as the 72-year-old Indonesian politician arrived in China for his first overseas visit after winning the race to lead Southeast Asia's biggest economy last month.

During their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi hailed the substantive progress achieved in the development of bilateral relations over the past decade, saying that the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway has become a shining example of high-quality cooperation between the two countries.

"China always views its relations with Indonesia from a strategic height and long-term perspective and is willing to run the historical relay race with Indonesia," he said.

Now that bilateral ties have entered a new stage of building the China-Indonesia community with a shared future, Xi said that China is ready to deepen all-around strategic cooperation with Indonesia so as to better benefit their peoples and make positive contributions to peace, stability and prosperity in the region and across the world.

Xi said that the fruitful results achieved in bilateral relations lie in the two countries' adherence to strategic independence, mutual trust and assistance, cooperation for mutual benefit, and the upholding of fairness and justice.

He called on China and Indonesia, both of which are major developing countries and emerging economies, to cooperate in all sincerity in the future and make China-Indonesia relations an example of win-win cooperation, a model of common development and a pioneer of South-South cooperation.

Xi expressed China's willingness to share experiences on state governance with Indonesia, strengthen the alignment of development strategies and keep deepening maritime cooperation. China will also enhance cooperation with and provide support to Indonesia in the field of poverty reduction and eradication, he added.

The Indonesian president-elect, who is currently the nation's defense minister, started a three-day visit to China on Sunday. He will be sworn in as the next leader of Southeast Asia's most populous nation in October.

Calling China a powerful partner of Indonesia, he expressed full support for Indonesia to develop a closer relationship with China, saying that he will continue Indonesian President Joko Widodo's friendly policy toward China, uphold independence and firmly adhere to the one-China policy.

The new Indonesian government will proactively promote the synergy of the two countries' development strategies, push for more results to be achieved in cooperation in various areas including trade and the economy, and strengthen coordination and cooperation with China in international and regional affairs, he said.

Muhammad Habib, a researcher at the Department of International Relations of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Indonesia, said that this visit would lay a promising foundation for the Indonesia-China partnership under the new Indonesian government.

"Indonesia and China are now at the peak of their bilateral relationship, anchored in strong ties between their officials and businesses," he said, adding that the president-elect wants to preserve the current leadership's rapport with the Chinese president.

"China remains an indispensable partner in many of Indonesia's strategic projects, including the mineral downstreaming agenda and the energy transition," he added.

Xu Liping, a senior researcher on Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Indonesian president-elect's trip to China will enable the nations to reach a consensus on medium- and long-term strategic cooperation in the upcoming five to 10 years.

"For the new Indonesian government, the priority strategic goal is to raise its economic growth rate from 5 percent to 7 percent and realize its vision of 'Golden Indonesia 2045'. To achieve this goal, cooperation with China is indispensable," Xu said, noting that China is now the largest trading partner of Indonesia.

According to Xu, the two countries' political, economic, cultural and maritime cooperation is constantly injecting momentum into their comprehensive strategic partnership, thus consolidating the political and social foundations for China-Indonesia friendship.

"As the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway has shown, China's development will bring concrete opportunities to Indonesia," he said.