|
On the morning of March 25, 2002, Chairman of the
Standing Committee of the Chinese NPC Li Peng and his wife
Zhu Lin met with the Indonesian President Megawati and her
husband at the Great Hall of the People.
Li
extended a warm welcome to Megawati, believing Megawati's
current visit will further deepen the all-round cooperative
relations based on good neighborliness and mutual trust. He
said that the two countries established brotherly relations
as early as the period of striving for national independence
and development. The leaders of the two countries jointly
advocated and convened the Bandung Conference that
strengthened the unity of Asian and African countries. Li
said that the relations between the two countries have
developed smoothly since the re-establishment of the
diplomatic relations between China and Indonesia. The mutual
understanding and trust have been deepened remarkably and
the exchange and cooperation in the political, trade and
economic and cultural fields have continuously
expanded.
Li said that he was invited to visit
Indonesia as the Chinese Premier at the time of the
re-establishment of the two countries in the August, 1990.
As a witness to the event, he felt from heart that it is not
only in the fundamental interests of the two countries but
also conducive to the promotion of regional peace and
prosperity for the two countries to develop good-neighborly
and friendly relations of cooperation. He said that the
Chinese side is confident with the developing prospect of
the bilateral ties and is willing to work with the
Indonesian side to continuously expand and enrich the
mutually beneficial cooperation in various
fields.
Li introduced China's national people's
congress system to Megawati and noted that China's NPC has
always attached importance to the exchanges with parliaments
of other countries including Indonesia's parliament. The NPC
has maintained a good relationship with the Indonesian
legislature. The friendly exchanges of the two legislative
bodies have constituted a great part of the bilateral
relations and played an active and important role in
promoting mutual understanding and cooperation of the two
peoples. Li extended his welcome to the Indonesian
parliament to attend the Third Annual Meeting of the Peace
Association of the Asian Parliaments in China, and to
discuss developing peace strategies in Asia with other Asian
nations.
Li felt glad to see that Indonesia has
been on a recovering path with its society increasingly
stable. He also said that Indonesians with Chinese origin
have integrated into the Indonesian society and become a
member of the big Indonesian family of all ethnic groups.
The Chinese side sincerely wishes all these ethnic groups
could get along with each other harmoniously and the Chinese
Indonesians could make even more contributions to the
economic prosperity and the social development of
Indonesia.
Megawati thanked Chairman Li Peng
and his wife Zhu Lin. She said that she was warmly received
when she visited China as a parliament member 10 years ago.
This time when she stepped on the land of China again she
once again felt deeply the good feelings the Chinese people
bear towards the Indonesian people. She said she
has brought her daughter in this visit and she
firmly believed the two peoples should be on good terms from
generation to generation.
Megawati said that
one of the objectives of her current visit to China is to
promote the good-neighborly relations between Indonesia and
China. She and President Jiang have conducted fruitful
talks. The two sides reached many important consensus on
existing friendly cooperation, with which Megawati felt glad
and satisfactory.
Megawati introduced to Li the
domestic situation, ethnic makeup and the parliment of
Indonesia. She noted that China's NPC has made remarkable
achievemens in ruling the country by law. Indonesia is also
paying much attention to the building of the legal
system, and working to eliminate corruption and social
injustice. Megawati also said that since Indonesia is a
multi-ethnic country, the Indonesian government will try its
best to treat every ethnic group justly and equally, Chinese
Indonesian included, to maintain domestic unity and
stability.
|