China, Indonesia pledge closer strategic partnership

Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo Thursday and they pledged to strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

"China and Indonesia are strategically interdependent on, and economically complementary to, each other and there is immense potential for reciprocal cooperation between the two countries," Xi said as he talked with the Indonesian president at the Great Hall of the People.

At Xi's invitation, Joko is paying his first state visit to China this week and will attend the the annual Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) conference, which will be held from Thursday to Sunday in south China's Hainan Province.

During the talks, the two presidents agreed to sign a five-year plan of action for the partnership.

This is the 65th year of China-Indonesia diplomatic relations. Xi said Joko's visit would greatly boost practical cooperation between the two countries in various areas.

Hailing development of ties, the two presidents agreed to maintain high-level exchanges, boost economic cooperation and increase people-to-people and cultural exchanges.

"The two sides hold the view that the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, proposed by President Xi Jinping, and the Strategy of the Global Maritime Fulcrum initiated by President Joko Widodo are complementary," said a joint statement issued after their talks.

According to the statement, China and Indonesia agreed to strengthen strategy and policy communication, advance maritime infrastructure connectivity, deepen cooperation in industrial investment and major project construction, and enhance practical cooperation to develop a "maritime partnership" together.

China will support Indonesia's efforts to accelerate maritime infrastructure development with the help of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund, Xi said, highlighting the construction of ports, high speed railways, airports and coastal economic special zones as well as the ship-building sector.

Xi said China would also encourage more Chinese enterprises to join Indonesia's development drive and was ready to expand two-way investment.

China will support Indonesia in its commemorative events for the 60th anniversary of the Bandung Conference, which Xi will attend, and will work closely with the Indonesian side to promote mutual understanding among Asian and African countries, deepen South-South cooperation and achieve common development, according to the Chinese president.

For his part, Joko said China was a close friend of Indonesia and that they, along with all other major developing countries, should play a bigger role in international affairs.

Joko called on all countries to take advantage of the 70th anniversary of the victory of World War II to put an end to violence and resolve problems through dialogue.

During the talks, Joko said Indonesia welcomed Chinese participation in infrastructure construction.

The visiting president also hoped bilateral trade will reach 150 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.

The two sides agreed to further promote tourism cooperation to reach the annual target of over 2 million exchange visits.

Xi and Joko witnessed the signing of a string of deals on trade, infrastructure construction, aviation, taxation, and search and rescue at sea.

Prior to their talks, Xi held a red carpet ceremony to welcome the Indonesian president. Endi