Indonesia congratulates China's new leaders

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.