The governments of Indonesia and China agreed to build a bilateral strategic partnership, senior officials of the two countries said in Jakarta on Friday.

The statement was made in a joint press conference between Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and Visiting Chinese president's Special Envoy and State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan after their meeting here.

The two governments would prepare the concepts of the partnership, which is expected to be discussed in the summit meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the APEC meeting in Chile atthe end of this month, Wirajuda said.

The foreign minister said that the Chinese government positively responded on the plan to enhance the bilateral relations.

He said that Chinese government plans to develop a new cooperation with the Indonesian government within a new phase.

In dealing with the Chinese efforts to end separatism, Wirajudareaffirmed that Indonesia adheres to its One China policy.

The Chinese special envoy said that one of goals of his visit here was to follow up the suggestion of President Susilo.

"My visit here aims to discuss with the Indonesian government how to build the bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries," Tang said.

Tang also said that the two presidents would also hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN plus one and ASEANplus three meetings in Laos later this month.

The strategic bilateral partnership is first initiated by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shortly after he waselected as the 6th president of the republic in October.

During the meeting Tang said that the Chinese government fully supports the Indonesian government as a host of the Asian-African summit in Jakarta on April 25, 2005, to be followed by the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bandung Asian-African summit.

Source: Xinhua