President Hu to attend Asian-African meeting

The Jakarta Post, Beijing

Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit Indonesia next year to attend the 50th anniversary of the Asian-African conference in Jakarta, says a top Chinese official here.

"President Hu Jintao is scheduled to make an official visit to Indonesia next year to attend the anniversary of the Asian- African congress," Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei told visiting Indonesian journalists at the Foreign Ministry Office on Thursday.

Besides attending the anniversary, Hu was also expected to hold talks with newly-elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a follow up of their recent meeting, he said. Hu and Susilo met on the sidelines of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Santiago, Chile.

Wu said that Hu had a "very fruitful" talk with Susilo at the meeting.

"The two leaders had agreed to forge a strategic partnership at the meeting and agreed to hold a follow-up meeting to discuss the details of the partnership," he said.

Wu described the talks on the partnership as a "very important" development in Sino-Indonesian relations.

China, he said, has always considered its relationship with Indonesia to be a very important one.

"China has a long tradition of good relations with Indonesia and Indonesia has played a very important role in ASEAN," he said, referring to the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian nations.

The anniversary of the Asia-Africa conference is slated to be held in Jakarta and Bandung from April 21-23 next year. It is understood that Susilo is also working on a possible visit to Beijing next February.