BEIJING: Earlier this month, Indonesia’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway saw the laying of ballasted tracks begin on its main line, marking a solid step of this landmark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project and signaling the pragmatic cooperation between China and Indonesia.
With a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the railway built with Chinese technology will cut the journey between Jakarta and Bandung, the country’s fourth-largest city, from more than three hours to around 40 minutes.
While meeting Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping Tuesday voiced the hope that key bilateral cooperation projects, including the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project, would advance smoothly. Meanwhile, Widodo called the high-speed railway project another milestone of bilateral friendship.
Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China and Indonesia have set the direction of building a China-Indonesia community with a shared future and forged a new pattern of bilateral relations featuring the “four-wheel drive” of political, economic, cultural and maritime cooperation.
“China and Indonesia are at similar development stages, have entwined interests, follow similar philosophies and development paths and share a closely connected future,” Xi said, adding that building a China-Indonesia community with a shared future is the common aspiration and expectation of the two peoples.
He said sound Sino-Indonesian relations not only serve the long-term shared interests of the two countries but also have positive and far-reaching effects regionally and globally. Widodo is the first foreign head of state to visit China after the Beijing Winter Olympics, and China is the first stop of Widodo’s first trip to East Asia since the pandemic.
Despite COVID-19 outbreaks and growing uncertainties, China and Indonesia see unstoppable momentum in their cooperation and are ready to further deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership.
As Xi mentioned in the meeting, the bilateral relationship has shown great resilience and vitality in recent years. China remained Indonesia’s largest trading partner in 2021. According to Chinese customs statistics, trade volume between the two sides was valued at $124.3 billion, with a growth rate of 58.4 percent year on year. Major cooperation projects, including the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway Project, the Two Countries Twin Parks program and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Corridors, reflect the highly synergized connectivity between the BRI and Indonesia’s national strategy. Thus, the cooperation projects will produce win-win outcomes in the economic recovery of the country and the wider region.
–The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
