Beijing (Wednesday,
20/04/2011)—Indonesian Foreign Minister, Dr. R.M. Marty M. Natalegawa,
has held talks with his counterpart, Yang Jiechi,
during his short working visit to Beijing, China, by the invitation of the
Chinese Foreign Minister, on 19-20 April 2011.
The two Foreign
Ministers discussed the efforts to elevate the cooperation between Indonesia
and China compliant with the Joint Declaration on Strategic Partnership inked
by President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and President Hu Jintao in April 2005 and the Plan of Action 2010-2015.
Marty and his
Chinese counterpart expressed their esteem as both saw that the ties of the two
countries have evidently arrived at its culmination point. This was well
reflected among others by the sharp increase of the bilateral trade volume from
US$ 29 billion in 2009 to US$ 42.7 billion in 2010. However, both sides also shared
the view that further attempts need to be done to achieve more balanced,
win-win and sustainable bilateral trade.
During the
meeting, they also exchanged views on efforts to strengthen cooperation in
politics, social and culture being aware of the fact that the good relations
between Indonesia and China as two big countries in the region would impact the
regional stability, peace, and prosperity. Against this backdrop, both
concurred to revitalize the dialogue mechanism to discuss strategic issues as
part of the endeavors to reinforce the regional architecture that is capable of
managing the dynamic political development, not only in the regional but also
global contexts.
Both Ministers
used the occasion to identify prospective significant issues to discuss between
the Heads of State of the two countries during the Chinese Premier’s visit to
Indonesia later this month in order that the visit would bring benefits and
concrete results for the relations of Indonesia and China.
Minister’s
Courtesy Call to Chinese Premier
On Tuesday, Indonesian
FM also met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Premier’s office at Ziguangge
Zhongnanhai. In the meeting, the Premier mentioned
six points of objective to achieve from his working visit to Indonesia in the
end of this month, inter alia: strengthening bilateral relation mechanism,
promoting mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation, increasing
cooperation in maritime, cooperation in defense, and deepening people-to-people
contact and cooperation in education, and enhancing coordination between the
two countries at global forum, such as the UN and G20.
Joining the
Indonesian FM’s envoys during the official meetings in Beijing were the
Indonesian Ambassador to PRC Imron Cotan, the DG for Asia-Pacific and African Affairs T.M. Hamzah Thayeb, Director for East
Asia and Pacific Affairs Dewi Savitri
Wahab. On the Chinese side, FM Yang Jiechi was escorted by the FM Assistant Hu
Zhengyue and the DG for Asian Affairs Luo Zhaohui. The meetings had
been very fruitful and were held in a friendly atmosphere. During his short
Beijing trip, FM Marty had also made time to have an informal dialogue with the
China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and an interview with China
Central Television (CCTV) for ‘Dialogue’, which is rated the highest for
talk-show program in CCTV News on current international issues.