Indonesia congratulates China's new leaders
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Indonesian government congratulated the people of China for the election of the country's new leaders, and hoped to strengthen the ties between the two countries.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said on Sunday that Jakarta highly valued its blossoming relations with Beijing and would be ready to engage further in more cooperation with the new government.
"We congratulate the people of China for this important development and we look forward to further cooperation with China," Marty told The Jakarta Post.
Marty further remarked that Jakarta was assured that with the new leaders the relations of the two largest countries in East Asia will remain and ahead for betterment.
"The two countries had a strong traditional ties and expected to elevate in the future," he underlined.
It was not clear, however, whether Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri had sent a message to the new leaders of China.
Over the weekend China's parliament appointed Hu Jintao as the country's new President and Wen Jiabao as new premier, to replace Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji respectively.
Wen was Zhu's vice premier and a respected figure on the international stage.
Jakarta, reinstated its diplomatic relations with Beijing in the early 1990s, and has enjoyed growing ties especially after the appointment of Megawati as the country's president in 2001.
Founding president Sukarno, Megawati's father, was China's close friend, and since 2001 the two countries' leaders have exchanged visits.
Indonesia also received financial gain from Asia's newest economic power and world's sixth-biggest economy with economic growth up by 8 percent last year.
Indonesia recently clinched a deal to export liquefied natural gas worth US$8.5 billion from Tangguh in Papua, to Fujian province.
Indonesia has also signed the first-ever loan agreement with Beijing in which the latter would lend US$400 million to support several infrastructure projects.
Indonesia has a "one China policy" and has proved its commitment by rejecting the visit of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian last year, despite the fact that Taiwanese investors are the country's fifth largest in terms of trade revenue.
The Indonesian government is expected to issue an official statement on the election of the new Chinese leaders on Monday.