YUDHOYONO EMPHASIZES P2P CONTACTS TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN BEIJING-JAKARTA TIES by Fardah

    Jakarta, July 1, 2015 (Antara) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's life after being the sixth president of Indonesia for two terms (2004-2009 and 2009-2014), is far from lonely or boring.

         Yudhoyono, popularly called SBY, was invited as an honorary guest and speaker at the fourth World Peace Forum (WPF) held in Beijing, China, on June 27, 2015.

         SBY shed light on the importance of security cooperation along with former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama in the forum themed "Overcome Difficulties: Understanding, Consultation, and Reciprocity."
    On the next day, the former Indonesian president gave a general lecture and held a dialog with students at the University of Tsinghua, Beijing.  

    Before speaking and holding the dialog with the students, he was greeted by the university's president, Qiu Yong.

         "I feel very honored to be here, at the best university, and the place where I received an honorary doctorate several years ago," he  remarked.

         He said he very much agreed with the motto of the University of Tsinghua, which is "self discipline, and social commitment", as well as the spirit of "action speak louder than words".

         "Without discipline, we would not be able to realize what we want. Discipline is my foundation when I led Indonesia, to make Indonesia better, and more advanced," Indonesia's sixth president said.

         He talked about the bilateral relations between Indonesia and China, the latest developments in Asia and the Pacific regions, and the cooperation between ASEAN and China.

         The dialog was attended by some 55 students from the University of Tsinghua and other universities in Beijing such as Beihang University, Chinese Communication University, and the University of Economics and Business. 
    Yudhoyono visited Tsinghua on March 23, 2012 and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Tsinghua University.  
    After the ceremony, Yudhoyono delivered a speech entitled "Indonesia-China Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in the Asia-Pacific".

         Some Chinese leaders including President Xi Jinping, former president Hu Jiantao, and former prime minister Zhu Rongji, had graduated from the University of Tsinghua.

         This time, as he returned to the prestigious university, SBY invited Chinese university students to visit Indonesia and strengthen friendship between the people of Indonesia and China.

         "If you want to visit Indonesia, you are welcome. Like China, Indonesia is also a beautiful country," he told the Chinese students.

         "The Indonesian people are also very friendly, so please come and help to strengthen our friendship," he emphasized.

         The bilateral relations between Indonesia and China have been very sound, particularly since the signing of the Indonesia-China strategic partnership agreement in 2005, which was further enhanced to comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013, he remarked.

         He believed that more people-to-people (P2P) contacts between Indonesians and Chinese could help strengthen the bilateral relations between China and Indonesia. 
    Cultural and educational cooperation, including exchanges between Indonesian and Chinese students, are fields that can be further developed in the future.

         "The exchanges will increase understanding between people in the two countries, which will eventually strengthen their relations in the future," SBY affirmed.

         Furthermore, the social media, which enables Indonesians and their friends living in China to communicate, is one of the important pillars to strengthen Jakarta-Beijing relations, Yudhoyono added.

         "Through social media, people-to-people contact can be built. Therefore, the use of such online communication tools needs to be promoted in the future," he informed Antara correspondent in Beijing in a written interview on June 28, 2015.

         According to the Ministry of Communication and Informatics, Indonesia has about 137 million internet users while China possesses 650 million.

         Among the popular social media platforms in China are Facebook, Path, Instagram, Twitter, and Weibo.

         SBY believes that these social media sites can be used to strengthen the foundation of the two countries' relations.

         In addition to social media, bilateral relations could also be strengthened through cooperation in the fields of culture and education, he affirmed.

         "We have a prospective future. In education, for instance, student and teaching staff exchange and comparative study are some examples of programs, which play an important role in balancing the two nations' cooperation," he noted.

         He believed that people-to-people contact has contributed positively to strengthening bilateral relations for the present and in the future, as a common understanding can be reached through it.

         "People-to-people and cultural relationships are very important and are the main foundation for cooperation, not only for now, but also in the future and for future generations," he said.

         President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), when in Beijing in November 2014, said he wanted the strategic partnership between Indonesia and China to take "more concrete" forms, so as to benefit the people of both nations.

         "The relationship between Indonesia and China has existed for hundreds of years; we will continue to build our comprehensive, strategic partnership on that," he said in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during  his first official overseas visit as Indonesia¿s president.

         President Xi hailed Indonesia as being "close to the heart" of China as he received Jokowi. 
    "Although our two nations are separated by a vast ocean, the huge waves have not deterred us from interacting since the era of Admiral Cheng Ho's voyage, and the Asia-Africa Conference," Xi told Jokowi.

         Almost one million Chinese tourists visited Indonesia last year, and for this year, Indonesia has set a target to double the number of Chinese visitors.

         China is currently the fourth largest tourism source country for Indonesia, by contributing a total of 883,725 Chinese tourists between January and November 2014.

         The first largest tourism source country is Singapore (1.32 million), followed by Malaysia (1.12 million), and Australia (996,032).

         "If our expectation in 2014 was to receive one million Chinese tourists, we are optimistic that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia will reach two million by the end of 2015," Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said recently. ***2***
((T.F001/A/F. Assegaf/Bustanuddin) 01-07-2015 23:02:30