This year marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Indonesia and the launch of the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Under the framework of the the Belt and Road Initiative, the two countries have carried out extensive cooperation in economy, trade and infrastructure, and achieved a series of results. Chinese Ambassador to Indonesia Lu Kang recently received a written interview from the Global Times.
Lu Kang: The opening of Ya'an Wanzhou High speed Railway will bring many tangible benefits to Indonesia. The most direct benefit is to create more convenient and efficient travel conditions for the Indonesian people. In the long run, the completion and opening of the high-speed rail will further optimize the local investment environment, increase employment opportunities for the people, effectively drive commercial and tourism development along the line, and even form new growth points, accelerating the formation of the high-speed rail economic corridor. The Yawan high-speed railway will become a comprehensive development path, livelihood path, and win-win path that serves the Indonesian people.
On June 22nd, I was invited to jointly test ride the Yawan high-speed railway with Indonesian Minister of Ocean and Investment Coordination, Lu Hute, Minister of Transportation, Budi, Governor of West Java Province, Lidwan, and Chairman of China Railway Group, Liu Zhenfang. During the trial ride, the comprehensive inspection showed that the train's operating speed exceeded 355 kilometers per hour, reaching the fastest commercial operation speed of high-speed rail in the world, which amazed Indonesian friends and praised Chinese high-speed rail technology endlessly. On that day, I also noticed that many local Indonesian people were watching trains running along the way. A colleague from the Sino Indonesian high-speed rail joint venture told me that every day, Indonesian people take photos along the high-speed rail to record the train's passing, which also reflects the Indonesian people's high expectations for the Yawan high-speed rail.
Lu Kang: Ya'an Wanzhou High speed Railway is a landmark project of the "the Belt and Road" initiative and practical cooperation between China and Indonesia. It vividly interprets the concept of "joint consultation, joint construction and sharing" in the "the Belt and Road" initiative, and has important reference significance for us to do well in other similar projects. It can be said that the successful completion of the Yawan high-speed railway directly proves that China's manufacturing technology is mature, efficient, internationalized, adapted to the local environment, and strives to be embedded in the development plan of the host country. It will greatly assist China's manufacturing in "going global", and will also further stimulate the confidence of developing countries to adhere to the development path that is in line with their own national conditions.
Lu Kang: Taking infrastructure connectivity construction as an example, since the "the Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, China and Indonesia have cooperated to create a number of high-quality projects, covering power stations, roads and bridges, dams, communication projects and other fields, making positive contributions to Indonesia's "connectivity to thousands of islands". A large number of landmark projects have been completed, including the Sima Bridge, the longest steel arch bridge in Indonesia, the Tayuan Bridge, and the second largest dam in Indonesia, the Jiatigdi Dam, bringing convenience to local people's livelihoods. Chinese funded enterprises in Indonesia contribute to the development of local people's livelihoods, not only providing a large number of job opportunities, but also cultivating high-quality talents for Indonesia through knowledge and technology sharing.
Lu Kang: In recent years, with the comprehensive connection between the "the Belt and Road" initiative and Indonesia's "global maritime fulcrum" concept, China Indonesia economic and trade cooperation has achieved fruitful results. China has become Indonesia's largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years. In 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Indonesia reached 149.1 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 19.8%. Investment cooperation is also a highlight of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. In 2022, the investment volume of mainland China reached 8.2 billion US dollars, an increase of 156.25% year-on-year, and it continues to remain the second largest foreign investor in Indonesia.
China and Indonesia have strong economic complementarity and great potential for economic and trade cooperation. According to the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, the two sides will continue to promote the construction of key projects such as the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridor" and the "Two Countries, Two Parks", and create a new benchmark for high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road". At the same time, we will continue to improve the level of economic, trade and investment cooperation, and expand cooperation in multiple fields. According to the consensus reached by both sides at the beginning of this year, China is willing to further expand the import of Indonesian bulk commodities and high-quality agricultural and fishery products according to market needs, encourage Chinese enterprises to invest in Indonesia, expand cooperation in infrastructure, digital economy, healthcare and other fields, create highlights of maritime cooperation, and promote the acceleration of the resumption of fisheries cooperation.
Lu Kang: The relationship between countries lies in people's affinity, and people's affinity lies in heart to heart connection. As one of the "four pillars" of cooperation between the two countries, China and Indonesia have a solid foundation and fruitful achievements in people-to-people and cultural exchanges, playing an irreplaceable important role in deepening mutual understanding and promoting people-to-people communication.
Let me take an example to talk about the "people to people connection" between China and Indonesia in the fight against the COVID-19. Since the outbreak of the epidemic, the governments, local governments, and civilians of China and Indonesia have provided mutual assistance, working together and watching each other out. The Chinese government has donated medical supplies to Indonesia and provided more than 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to Indonesia. Most people in Indonesia have received Chinese vaccines. The joint efforts of China and Indonesia to overcome the difficulties have deepened the emotions of the two peoples, fully showcasing the good friendship between China and Indonesia, which emphasizes the same challenges but neglects the same lifting. It also confirms the idiom shared by both countries, "Fate is connected, and we share weal and woe.
The Yawan high-speed railway will become a new symbol of friendship between Indonesia and China, "Kamil said. The Bandung spirit has been enduring, and Indonesia and China are working together towards economic development, social justice, and other goals
