Indonesia, China to maintain good political ties

Beijing (ANTARA News) - Indonesia and China were expected to maintain close political ties in 2008 as they could show mutual respect on their respective sovereignty and non-interference in their respective internal affairs, an envoy has said.

In 2007, Indonesia and China had signed a number of documents on bilateral cooperation and they would enhance the cooperation this year, Indonesia`s Ambassador to China, Sudrajat, said here Sunday.

In the political sector, Indonesian and Chinese Defence Ministers respectively Juwono Sudarsono and Cao Gangchuan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Beijing in November, 2007.

In the military field, Indonesia and China had established cooperation in training military personnel, in defence, joint exercises, joint production and technology transfer as well as exchange of visits.

The bilateral cooperation also covered intelligence exchange, technology and science.

The good bilateral relations are maintained also due to Indonesia`s consistency in upholding its One China Policy with regard to the Taiwan issue, Sudrajat said.

The Indonesian government understands that the Taiwan issue is a sensitive question to the Chinese government, and the Indonesian government has affirmed that it would not interfere in China`s internal affairs, he said.

He said the relations between Indonesia and China were once rather disrupted in 2006 due to a misunderstanding about the Taiwanese president visiting Indonesia`s island of Batam.

"The problem has now been settled and (the two countries) had come to an understanding in 2007," he added.

The ambassador said that in 2008, Indonesia would remain consistent with upholding its One China Policy, he said.

He pointed out that the Indonesian government has informed the Chinese government that at least 50 Indonesians worked in Taiwan and the trade volume between Taiwan and Indonesia is significant.

Thus, he added, it was natural that Indonesian officials visited Taiwan and met their Taiwanese counterparts as they only talked about trade and manpower affairs.

"Indonesia is very careful in selective in implementing bilateral ties with Taiwan," he said.

He was optimistic that this year`s political relations between Indonesia and China would continue running well and hoped there would be no problems dirupting the normal relations between the two countries in the coming years.