Bid against ‘vaccine divide’
China pledges support for indonesia over joint cooperation
BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China, while comprehensively promoting domestic vaccination, will continue to carry out vaccine cooperation with Indonesia and help the country build a regional vaccine production centre, and jointly resist the “vaccine divide”.
In a phone conversation with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Xi stressed that both China and Indonesia attach great importance to people’s lives and health and oppose “vaccine nationalism,” noting that vaccine cooperation between the two countries is at the forefront of the world.
China, Xi added, has included foreign citizens on its soil, including those from Indonesia, in its inoculation plan, and hopes that Indonesia will also provide active support for Chinese nationals in the South-East Asian country.
In the face of profound changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century, Xi emphasised, China stands ready to join hands with Indonesia to enhance strategic mutual trust, deepen strategic consensus, strengthen strategic coordination, uphold multilateralism, safeguard fairness and justice, promote global climate governance, defend the common interests of developing countries, and advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
He noted that trade and investment cooperation between China and Indonesia has kept growing despite the Covid-19 pandemic, showing strong resilience and great potential.
He said China welcomes Indonesia to seize the opportunity created by China’s fostering of a new development paradigm and advance bilateral practical cooperation in various areas in a coordinated way. He also suggested that the two countries better synergise the Belt and Road Initiative and Indonesia’s vision of Global Maritime Fulcrum, and cooperate on a larger scale with higher quality.
The two sides, Xi added, should continuously push forward infrastructure cooperation projects such as the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, earnestly implement key projects including the regional comprehensive economic corridor, foster new growth areas like new energy and maritime cooperation, and strengthen ties in digital economy and other fields.