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.