China vows to promote ties with Indonesia via people-to-people exchange

Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong said on Wednesday that China will further promote its relations with Indonesia through people-to-people exchange.

In a speech delivered at the University of Indonesia, Liu Yandong said China and Indonesia should take the launching opportunity of the people-to-people exchange mechanism to further consolidate the social foundation for friendly cooperation between the two countries.

Liu said universities in the two countries should tap the potential for cooperation, open up more communication channels, and improve the quality of academic exchanges and personnel cultivation. Liu proposed closer communication and collaboration between universities, think tanks and non-governmental organizations between the two countries. To intensify youth exchange, Liu said the Chinese government will provide additional 100 government scholarships for Indonesian students each year in the next three years, donate education equipment worth 500,000 RMB (about 80,600 U.S. dollars) to the University of Indonesia, and invite 100 Indonesian university students to participate in the " Chinese Bridge" Summer Camp to be held later this year.

Liu Yandong is on a six-day visit to the country at the invitation of Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani. She arrived in Jakarta on Tuesday following her visit to Bangladesh.

Later on Wednesday, Liu and Puan will co-host the first meeting of the deputy-prime-ministerial people-to-people exchange mechanism between China and Indonesia. Endi