Message from His Excellency the Chinese Ambassador Lu Shumin

Message from His Excellency the Chinese Ambassador Lu Shumin

On the occasion of the 54th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, on behalf of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of Indonesia, and in my own name, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have long been concerned about and supportive of China's development, and who have committed themselves to the friendship and cooperation between China and Indonesia.

Over the past 54 years, and especially since China launched its reform and open-door strategy over two decades ago, the people of all ethnic groups, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), have worked hard and brought fundamental changes to the country.

The country's economic strength has grown tremendously, the people's livelihood has improved remarkably and China's international status has been rising with each passing day. Last March, the first plenary session of the 10th National People's Congress was held in Beijing, electing new leaders and further refining plans for the country's future development.

In the first 20 years of this century, we will concentrate on building a society that is prosperous and productive, and on advancing the socialist modernization drive. After two decades of concerted efforts, China aims at quadrupling the 2000 GDP to more than US$4,000 billion by 2020. By then, China will stand as a country with a more developed economy, sounder democracy, more advanced in science and education, more prosperous culture and more harmonious society, all contributing to an improved quality of life.

Over the last several months, the Chinese people have withstood the serious challenges of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). It is gratifying that, under the collective leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the government, the Chinese people united as one and, using scientific means and strengthening cooperation with the international community, finally put the epidemic under effective control. Significant victory has been achieved in the battle against SARS.

The overall influence of SARS on China is limited and temporary, and has not altered the momentum of its economic growth. In the first half of this year, China's GDP grew by 8.2 percent, while its total trade volume reached 370 billion, with an increase of over 30 percent. This year, the Chinese economy is expected to maintain its steady growth momentum.

The development of China is closely related to world peace and global development, as China unwaveringly pursues an independent foreign policy of peace and, on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, conducts friendly exchanges, strengthens cooperation with all countries and strives to maintain world peace and common progress.

Moreover, the Chinese people will work relentlessly along with the peoples of all countries to combat hegemony, power politics and all forms of terrorism, and continuously work toward building a new, just and fair international political and economic order, safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.

Establishing good neighborly relationships and partnerships has been China's regional policy. Developing a long-term, stable friendship between China and Indonesia -- both major developing countries in Asia -- conforms to the fundamental interests of our peoples. In recent years, the cooperation between our two countries in the political, economic, military and cultural fields has evolved into a multidimensional and multilevel partnership.

The leaders of our countries have exchanged visits frequently, and established good rapport and communication. Almost all the senior Chinese leaders, including former president Jiang Zemin, former chairman Li Peng of the Standing Committee of NPC, former premier Zhu Rongji and former vice president Hu Jintao have visited Indonesia, while former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid visited China in 1999.

During President Megawati's visit to China in March 2002, the heads of state of the two countries reached a broad consensus on deepening the friendly cooperation between China and Indonesia, and set the direction for future cooperation efforts. It can be said that the relations between China and Indonesia is at its best period in our combined history.

Both China and Indonesia have a large population with enormous market potential, which makes our economies highly complementary. As such, there are broad prospects for our economic cooperation and trade. Although the growth of the world economy and regional economies has slowed in recent years, economic and trade relations between China and Indonesia have witnessed a steady growth.

The bilateral trade volume between the two countries in 2002 reached $7.9 billion, with a record increase of 17.9 percent in 2001. In the first half of this year, the bilateral trade volume reached $4.47 billion, an increase of 24.4 percent from the same period last year. China has become Indonesia's fastest growing trade partner, and with concerted efforts from both sides, China and Indonesia will continue to make greater achievements in our economic cooperation, trade and other fields.

China and Indonesia share the common historical task of maintaining national unity and territorial integrity. They have been understanding and supporting each other in this regard. China highly appreciates the Indonesian government's long- standing adherence to the One China policy, and China also firmly supports Indonesia's efforts to maintain its national unity.

The Chinese government adheres to the principle of "peaceful reunification", and the "one country, two systems" policy for settling the Taiwan issue, as Taiwan is an indispensable part of the country. No matter how the international situation changes, it will never change that the Chinese government resolves to oppose all separatist activities in order to safeguard China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to achieve the great goal of reunification.

Thanks to the development of the past twenty years and more, China's modernization program has made remarkable headway. Living and working in peace and contentment, the Chinese people are building a better future for themselves with full confidence. Facts have proved, and will continue to prove, that China's development will bring about more opportunities for economic development in the Asia-Pacific region and the world at large.

China will unswervingly follow the path toward development best suited to its national conditions, adhere to its reform and open-door policy, and press ahead its the socialist modernization drive.

A growing and more prosperous China will undoubtedly play a positive and constructive role in ensuring peace and development in the region and throughout the world.