China-RI trade has potential: Zhu

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)