Delegates attend the Joint Venture Agreement signing ceremony in Jakarta, Indonesia, Oct. 16, 2015. Senior officials of Chinese and Indonesian consortiums signed an agreement to launch a joint venture for a high-speed railway linking Jakarta with West Java provincial capital of Bandung. (Xinhua/He Changshan)(zcc)
BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The year 2018 coincides with the 5th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Indonesia. China is willing to strengthen close high-level contacts with Indonesia, give play to the complementary advantages of the two economies, and promote their cooperation in infrastructure, investment, production capacity and other fields.
Analysts quoted by the Economic Daily pointed out that the development of relations between China and Indonesia will not only benefit their peoples, but also help promote regional peace, stability and prosperity.
-- Mutual benefit, China-Indonesia cooperation continue to deepen
In the past five years, China and Indonesia have achieved fruitful cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.
First, the two countries have maintained frequent exchanges of high-level visits and deepened mutual political trust, with bilateral relations showing a good momentum of advancement in all directions.
Second, the two countries have closer economic and trade ties. In 2017, the bilateral trade volume reached 63.3 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 18.3 percent. To be specific, Indonesia's exports to China increased by 33 percent and the bilateral trade developed more evenly.
In 2017, China’s investment in Indonesia reached 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of more than 30 percent. Indonesia has become one of the top ten destinations for Chinese companies to invest overseas.
A series of important cooperation projects such as the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail have been steadily advancing. The new momentum for cooperation between the two countries, in fields such as infrastructure, production capacity, and digital economy, has continued to emerge.
Third, personnel exchanges between the two countries have become increasingly closer. In 2017, the number of tourists from China to Indonesia reached 2.06 million, an increase of 275 percent over 2013, making China the largest source of overseas tourists for Indonesia.
More than 14,000 international students in China come from Indonesia and China has become the second largest destination for Indonesian students to study.
-- Rational planning, closer interconnection
From the perspective of the top-level design, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Oceanic Administration of China have jointly issued a proposal about the maritime cooperation under the Belt and Road to promote construction of the East Asia Marine Cooperation Platform and the China-ASEAN Maritime Cooperation Center, which pointed out a new direction for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to link up the development strategies of Indonesia and promote marine economy and humanities exchanges.
In order to speed up the process of jointly building a port cities cooperation network, the China-ASEAN Port Cities Cooperation Network Work Conference was successfully held in south China's Nanning city.
It is reported that the core projects of the port cities cooperation network have achieved positive progress. First, the first phase of the China-ASEAN port logistics information center was established to realize the interconnection and exchanges of the logistics information between Qinzhou Port and the ports of the ASEAN countries. Second, five routes from Qinzhou Port to the main ports of ASEAN countries have been launched. One stop is Jakarta, Indonesia.
Through such cooperation, more and more Chinese enterprises have invested in overseas ports. More and more ASEAN companies have come to China to jointly build ports, open new routes, and construct logistics parks. China and ASEAN countries have enjoyed closer maritime connectivity.
Xiao Qian, Chinese ambassador to Indonesia, believes that Indonesia is not only an important hub for the ancient maritime Silk Road, but also the first place for the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. As the largest country in ASEAN, Indonesia's total land area, population, and economic output each account for about 40 percent of the ten ASEAN countries, showing its important role in the regional and global economy. China and Indonesia are both large developing countries. They face similar tasks in developing the economy and improving people's livelihood. The two countries have strong complementarity in the fields of infrastructure, productivity, and finance. They are natural partners.
-- Open and inclusive international cooperation platform
It should be noted that the Belt and Road Initiative serves as an open, transparent, and inclusive international cooperation platform. It does not engage in zero-sum game and geopolitical competition and does not aim at any country. It focuses on the fundamental issue of development, and helps related countries achieve independent and sustainable development. The Initiative has been widely welcomed by relevant countries, including Indonesia, and the international community.
Analysts said that China and Indonesia, two major oceanic countries, can work together in the direction of one goal.
The first is to provide more marine public service products. For example, the two sides can strengthen cooperation in the field of marine disaster prevention and reduction, and cooperate in the implementation of ecosystem-based integrated marine management.
The second is to accelerate the development of the blue partnership mechanism and capacity building. For example, they can strengthen cooperation and exchanges in marine economic development planning, marine spatial planning and park design, especially in capacity building and vocational training, to jointly create a number of internationally-recognized marine projects and cultivate a number of internationally competitive marine talents.
The third is to create a higher level of China-ASEAN maritime partnership. China and ASEAN are good neighbors, good friends and good partners with connected mountains and rivers. Therefore, China and Indonesia can promote China-ASEAN to form a closer and more effective partnership on marine development and further enrich the connotation of a community with a shared future for China-ASEAN, even for Asia. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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