Top Indonesian, Chinese officials discuss expanding trade

JAKARTA

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto to discuss ways to expand trade and investment during the U.S. global trade war and as economic globalization faces headwinds.

Li arrived in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on May 24 afternoon for a three-day visit to Southeast Asia’s largest economy. 

Indonesia and China are member states of the Group of 20 major developing countries and emerging economies and of BRICS .

Li brought 60 Chinese prominent businesspeople for his address to the Indonesia-China Business Reception on May 24 evening. He emphasized in his remarks that China’s economy has achieved rapid growth this year despite increasing external challenges.

“The current international situation is a stalemate,” Li said at the event which was also attended by Subianto, “Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, bullying behavior is increasing.”

Subianto expressed gratitude to the Chinese government and its companies “that have participated in our economy, created jobs, transferred technology and built trust among all businesses, especially in our homeland.”

He also invited Chinese businesspeople to invest more in Indonesia. Two-way trade exceeded $147.8 billion last year, growing by 6.1 percent.

China wants to strengthen its traditional friendship and Belt and Road Initiative partnership with Indonesia, especially in five key pillars: politics, economy, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, maritime affairs and security, Li said.