China-RI trade has potential: Zhu
JAKARTA (JP): Sino-Indonesian trade has developed rapidly since the two countries resumed diplomatic ties five years ago. Beijing now sees cooperation in the energy sector as the most important component of bilateral cooperation, China's Deputy Vice Premier Zhu Rongji said yesterday.
"Indonesia, which is comprised of more than 10,000 islands, need power plants to develop its economy. And China is willing to share the technology it once imported from developed countries with Indonesia in the energy sectors," Zhu said in an interview with three Indonesian media at the Shangri-La Hotel.
"In my speech address at a luncheon held by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, I personally encouraged Indonesian business leaders to purchase electrical equipment from China to develop Indonesia's energy industry," Zhu said.
"Should any Indonesian business executives run into problems, they could always come directly to me for advice, free of charge," he said.
He said that two-way trade last year stood at US$3.5 billion, or nearly four times higher than in 1990, when Jakarta resumed diplomatic ties with Beijing.
The deputy premier is in Jakarta to attend a two-day economic seminar held jointly by the Indonesian government and the International Herald Tribune daily, which ended yesterday.
Noting that Indonesia and China could still bolster economic and trade ties in areas that are of mutual benefit, Zhu said Indonesia has a lot of natural resources that his country needs for development projects, while China has abundant human resources.
Zhu, known widely as a key figure in China's economic reforms, said China will continue to strengthen its economic cooperation plans with other countries and international financial institutions, a pledge underlined by Chinese President Jiang Jemin during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit meeting in Osaka, Japan, last year.
China has enjoyed a robust average growth rate of 8 percent over the past few years, despite an overheated economy between 1984 and 1985, he said. He added that China is committed to raising the growth rate to 10 percent.
China has also succeeded in curbing inflation, which was brought from 7.7 percent to 7.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, he said, adding that Beijing will work to keep inflation at a single digit.
"Over the past years, we have witnessed the expansion of our external trade, which last year totaled to $280 billion," Zhu told journalists from The Jakarta Post, Kompas and the private- run RCTI television station.
Around 80 percent of China's foreign trade was with Asian countries, and 90 percent of direct foreign investments have also come from Asia, he explained. "China's foreign reserves were recorded at $80 billion last year," he said.
Some $30 billion every year has been invested by foreign companies in China over the past three years, he said.
When asked to comment on the remarks made by Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui about the Taipei government's willingness to cooperate with mainland China, Zhu said that Taiwan is an integral part of China and that the Beijing government will try to solve the issue peacefully.
But China has not promised that it will not resort to the use of military force in resolving the Taiwan issue, he added.
In an interview with the U.S. magazine Newsweek, Lee, the first democratically elected president of Taiwan, said that he considered the eight-point plan proposed by Chinese President Jiang as a breakthrough to the reunification of Taiwan and China.
Zhu said that China has offered leniency to Taiwan. He added that unlike Hong Kong -- which Britain will return to China in the middle of next year -- Taiwan could maintain its political system and even its armed forces provided that it accepts the sovereignty of the Beijing government.
The Chinese deputy premier said it was up to Lee to settle the reunification problem.
When asked whether there will be any political liberalization in China to keep up with its rapid economic development, Zhu said that "China has, from time to time, implemented political reforms" in its bid towards better democracy.
He said, however, that the democracy China has implemented for the Chinese people should not be compared to a Western-style democracy, which is inconsistent with the standards and values of China's culture and people.
"Why should any Western country impose its democratic system on an Asian country?" Zhu remarked. (ego)