Zhu's visit set to boost China's ties with RI
Zhu's visit set to boost China's ties with RI
Agencies, Beijing
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji will bring pledges of financial
assistance to Indonesia on a trip there next week due to focus on
strengthening economic ties between the countries, an official
said Wednesday.
Zhu will visit Indonesia from Nov. 7 through Nov. 11,
immediately after attending the summit of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brunei.
His visit to Indonesia will be the first there by a Chinese
premier for 11 years.
"China-Indonesia relations have achieved great progress," said
Hong Liang, deputy director of the Chinese foreign ministry's
Asian department.
The replacement of deposed former Indonesian president
Abdurrahman Wahid by Megawati Soekarnoputri had not affected
ties, Hong said.
Megawati's father, Indonesia's founding president Sukarno,
"was very friendly toward China," Hong told a press briefing
about the trip.
"Megawati herself has always had very good feelings, friendly
feelings for China," he added.
During the three-days visit Zhu would meet Megawati and other
senior officials in Jakarta before visiting the city of
Yogyakarta and Bali island, Foreign Ministry officials said.
During Zhu's visit the two sides will sign several agreements,
including one on cooperation in tourism, an extension of an
agreement last year designating Indonesia as one of the countries
to which Chinese citizens can travel freely.
China has provided financial assistance of US$1 billion to
Indonesia through the International Monetary Fund and will
continue to give assistance through bilateral channels, Hong
said.
The amount Zhu would pledge on his visit had not been
finalized, he added.
Zhu's delegation, including the governor of the central
People's Bank of China, will also try to iron out the technical
problems of reopening Bank of China branches in Indonesia which
were closed after diplomatic relations were suspended in the
1960s.
President Sukarno enjoyed close relations with China during
his rule. But his successor Soeharto cut diplomatic ties with
Beijing in 1967, restoring them only in 1990.
Zhu, in the coming ASEAN, plus China, Japan and South Korea
summit, will discuss ways of dealing with a slowing global
economy as well as security issues, officials said.
Terrorism would be an important issue in the wake of the Sept.
11 attacks on the U.S. but there were no details as yet on any
declarations that may be signed, senior Foreign Ministry official
Luo Zhaohui told reporters.
"The ASEAN plus three meeting will mainly focus on economic
cooperation and the domestic situation of countries," Luo said of
next week's meeting in Brunei with the 10 members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"China supports the discussion and the inclusion of this topic
(terrorism) in the lunchtime discussion," said Luo, referring to
a lunch meeting scheduled for Nov. 5.
"The ASEAN countries themselves have not come up with a
decision whether documents or text will be issued at the
conference," he said.
China would also discuss historical issues in the meeting with
Korea and Japan, he said, referring to long-standing rifts over
Japan's wartime aggression.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.