Beijing: China-Indonesia Cooperation Is Increasingly Important When The World Is Implementing

JAKARTA - China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the cooperation between China and Indonesia was increasingly important and needed when the world was in turmoil.

"Yesterday marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia. In the midst of increasing turmoil in the international landscape, comprehensive strategic cooperation between China and Indonesia is becoming increasingly important," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing on Monday, April 14.

Official diplomatic relations between Indonesia and China began on April 13, 1950, shortly after Indonesia's independence and China was led by the Communist Party under the leadership of Mao Zedong. Indonesia is also one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to recognize China diplomatically.

"China and Indonesia are major developing countries and important strengths in the 'Global South' group. Cooperation between the two countries has strategic significance and global influence," said Lin Jian.

President Xi Jinping and President Prabowo Subianto, according to Lin Jian, have also exchanged congratulatory messages, praised the development of bilateral relations, and stressed that the two will support each other's national development prospects for each country.

"The two leaders also want to be able to move forward together in their respective modernization channels, and lead a closer bilateral relationship. We have full confidence in a better future than the growth of China-Indonesia relations," said Lin Jian.

In the 75th celebration of the Chinese-Indonesian diplomatic relations, Lin Jian said China is ready to work with Indonesia to jointly realize regional development, prosperity and stability.

"China is also ready to coordinate more closely with big countries in response to global challenges, keep the multilateral trading system and industrial and supply chains stable and smooth and demonstrate the influence of the Chinese-Indonesian community with a common future in the region and the world in general," said Lin Jian.

The international community is currently facing a number of challenges, ranging from security issues such as conflicts in Ukraine due to Russian attacks, wars in Palestine, to tapering trade wars between China and the United States after President Donald Trump announced the implementation of import rates worth 145 percent of goods from China. China also retaliated with the implementation of import levies worth 125 percent.

Indonesia-China relations are closely established under President Soekarno in line with the similarities between anti-imperialism ideology and non-block spirit.

The 1955 Asian Africa Conference is a form of strengthening cooperation, Indonesia and China because both of them are the initiators of the event.

However, after the G30S/PKI incident in 1965, diplomatic relations broke due to allegations of China's involvement in supporting the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Under the Government of President Suharto in 1967, Indonesia froze diplomatic relations with China.

During this period, relations only lasted very limited and informally. Indonesia is also in a relationship with Taiwan.

Then in 1990, still under President Soeharto's Administration, Indonesia restored diplomatic relations with China on August 8, 1990 and recognized the principle of "One China", so it only recognized the People's Republic of China as the only Chinese country in the world.

Since the reform era in Indonesia, relations between Indonesia and China have become closer. In 2005, the two countries declared a "Strategic Partnership" (Strategic Partnership) relationship and in 2013 the status of the relationship was upgraded to "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership"/" Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" which includes trade, investment and defense midwives.

Under the government of President Joko Widodo, Indonesia joined the "Belt and Road Initiative" with one of the infrastructure projects that was successfully carried out was the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Train.

Based on China's Customs and Excise records, Indonesia-China bilateral trade in 2024 reached 147.78 billion US dollars. Indonesian exports reached 71.09 billion US dollars, while imports from China amounted to 76.69 billion US dollars. China is the largest above the United States and Japan.

Meanwhile, China's Direct Foreign Investment (FDI) in Indonesia in 2024 was recorded at 8.1 billion US dollars (the third largest), an increase of 9.4 percent compared to 2023. This value is still below the investment value of Hong Kong (8.2 billion US dollars) and Singapore (20.1 billion US dollars).