Beijing, Oct 11 – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Indonesia is a big country and an important emerging market in Southeast Asia, Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported.
The Chinese foreign minister made this remark after accompanying Chinese President Xin Jipping to pay state visits to Indonesia and Malaysia and attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Bali this week.
President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and their entourage arrived in Beijing from the visits on Wednesday.”Indonesia is a big country in Southeast Asia. It plays in important role in Asean and constitutes a very important emerging market. Malaysia, on the other hand, is China`s biggest trade partner among the Asean member nations,” he said.
Wang Yi said there are many opportunities for cooperation between the countries.
During his visit to Indonesia and Malaysia, Wang Yi realised various economic and trade cooperation agreements with Indonesia and Malaysia. Indonesia and China have agreed to boost their two-way trade volume to US$80 billion by 2015 and Malaysia and China agreed to increase their trade to US$160 billion by 2017.
President Xi Jinping and his counterparts from Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and from Malaysia Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak agreed to increase strategic partnerships between China and the two Asean countries.
“It is normal if China, Indonesia and Malaysia increase cooperation that has been established so far based on new developments in the region and other parts of the world and based on mutual understanding, mutual trust and partnership,”Wang Yi said.
He added that China would continue to make Asean one of its potential partner regions in its foreign policy. “This year marks 10 years of strategic partnership between China and the members of ASEAN and will continue to increase cooperation and good relations that have been established so far,”explained Wang Yi.
He said China wants to increase trade with the region to reach US$1 trillion by 2020. China will propose the establishment of an Asian infrastructure investment bank to promote the connectivity among countries in the Asean region,including strengthening maritime cooperation with the Asean nations.
In the meantime, at the Apec Summit in Bali, China and Indonesia agreed on the importance of creating the Network of Anti-Corruption and Law Enforcement Authorities (ACT-Net) to allow regional countries to act together to combat corruption.
“We believe that anti-corruption measures are very important and, of course, we support such measures,” said Deputy Chairman of the Chinese International Trade Promotion Council, Yu Ping, to Antara on Monday.
According to Yu, enhanced economic growth cannot be achieved if there is no transparency and fairness in the economic process. Thus, the movement of corrupt individuals must be prevented and regional countries need to cooperate to boost anti-corruption measures.
“Eradication of corruption is important, and in the process, transparency and firmness are needed,” he said. Previously, Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa and Trade Minister Gita Wiryawan, who were co-chairmen of the APEC ministerial meeting, together with APEC ministers, agreed to fight large-scale corruption.
Furthermore, APEC members believe that corruption has become a significant barrier to social and economic development, and it also destroys the trust of the public and investors.
– Bernama
