Chinese minister to visit Indonesia

BEIJING (Reuters): Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, making his first solo trip abroad in his new post, will arrive in Indonesia Saturday for a three visit, a ministry spokesman said yesterday.

Tang's visit would be of a "working" nature, spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters without elaborating.

Tang was elected by China's parliament last month to replace the outgoing foreign minister, Qian Qichen.

Beijing, which has so far managed to escape the worst of the regional economic crisis, has offered financial assistance to Jakarta.

Tang is presently accompanying new Premier Zhu Rongji on his visit to Europe, where Zhu has held bilateral summits with his counterparts from Britain and France and represented China at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in London.