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.