JAKARTA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- During President Joko Widodo's terms, Indonesia has been enjoying closer and more harmonious relations with China.
More bilateral activities have been made including official reciprocal visits, business and economic cooperation since Jokowi assumed office in 2014.
Among the significant measures taken by the two countries is an effort to enhance the bilateral cooperation which has been raised into a strategic comprehensive level.
In terms of official visits, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan attended Jokowi's second term inauguration on Oct. 20 2019. Soon after that, China's Ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian visited Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Mahfud MD at the latter's office in Jakarta on Nov. 5, 2019.
On the occasion, the two officials discussed efforts to extend the bilateral cooperation in the fields of security and politics.
"We come here in the position of being ready to continue cooperation on the fields of security and politics. This is a good beginning to continue the good cooperation in the future," Xiao was quoted by local news portal TEMPO.co as saying after the meeting.
There would be more cooperation projects between China and Indonesia in next five years, the ambassador hoped, adding that there might be more cooperation on the military sector.
In relations with the ambassador's remarks on possible cooperation on the military sector, Indonesia's Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto paid a courtesy call on Vice Chairman of China's Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang on Dec. 17, 2019 in Beijing. On the occasion, Prabowo expressed his intention to deepen friendly relations between Indonesia and China.
"The effort to deepen the bilateral defense and military cooperation would be manifested by the two parties through enhancing dialogues in a bid to maintain the regional peace and stability," Oratmangun was quoted by Indonesian media as saying.
Meanwhile, Xu said on the same occasion that the strategic comprehensive partnership between China and Indonesia has been developing rapidly. He hoped that the two parties should further develop pragmatic cooperation.
Likewise, China and Indonesia are enjoying warmer cooperation and relations on the trade and economic sector as both countries could take mutual advantages of the fact that the two countries are big markets to each other.
There have been a number of strategic measures to boost the two countries' economic cooperation including the China Healthcare Products Expo 2019 (CHEXPO ASEAN) which is an exhibition of Chinese pharmaceutical products as a means to enhance cooperation with Southeast Asian countries, especially with Indonesia.
Another one is the first Indonesia Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) which was inaugurated in July last year by then Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita in Shanghai, China, ready to serve business actors in China.
By 2018, China had been Indonesia's biggest trade partner for eight consecutive years, and the third biggest investor in the archipelago in 2018, with direct investment valued at 2.4 billion U.S. dollars. In the first half of 2019, China's direct investment to Indonesia reached 2.29 billion dollars.
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