Liu Jianchao, head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and a former Chinese ambassador to Indonesia, is a keynote speaker at a special forum in Jakarta on Saturday. [Photo by LEONARDUS JEGHO/For chinadaily.com.cn]
BRICS members are expecting Indonesia to play a significant role in the grouping and China supports this new member from Southeast Asia, according to a forum in Jakarta.
The Saturday gathering, entitled "In conversation with H.E Liu Jianchao, Asia's Future and 75 Years of Indonesia-China Ties", featured Liu, current head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and former Chinese ambassador to the Philippines and Indonesia.
Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world, officially became a full member of BRICS on Jan 6, 2025.
"Indonesia has made a right decision to join BRICS and its members are expecting the country to play a significant role in the grouping," Liu said at the forum. "So I think that all the members (of BRICS) will be very much willing to work with Indonesia."
Liu disagreed with the idea that Indonesia is a junior member of BRICS. As a leading member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, "you are a very strong partner for all the other BRICS members," Liu told hundreds of diplomats, academicians, government officials, researchers, business leaders, and university students. He is the only key speaker in the meeting.
BRICS, which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, comprises largest developing countries, is an informal grouping of emerging economies.
The half-day forum was jointly held by Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) and the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Indonesia.
Liu said his understanding was that BRICS basically carries the mission and the mandate to really work together for agendas that are universally acknowledged for the humanity, and so the bloc focuses on peace, economic development, green development, and people-to-people exchanges.
Liu also discussed other issues like interventions in other countries' business, the urgency of positive interaction among nations, common values and common ideologies, high-level trust and confidence, strategic dialog, and the United States.
He specially commended Indonesia's nutritious milk and meal program for school children and pregnant women, which he cited as an ambitious flagship scheme for poor people initiated by President Prabowo Subianto.
Liu said China is basically against the intervention in other countries' internal affairs and strongly upholds the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The principles were contained in the agreements signed by China with India and Myanmar in early 1950s, which the former subsequently adopted and included in the preamble to its constitution.
"Intervention is a form of, I think so, kind of new form of colonialism in many ways," the Chinese official said.
Liu stressed that consensus building is the unique feature of Asian value, which carries a spirit of living in peace and harmony.
Raswari, chairman of Indonesian Professional Engineer Association and an owner of a construction company, said he is expecting China to give ever bigger support to his country's economic development. China has done a lot for Indonesian so far, Raswari told China Daily after the dialog forum ended.
He lauds Indonesia's membership in BRICS, given China's participation in the grouping, saying that the United States "is too busy" to help other countries, economically.
Mari Elka Pangestu, President Prabowo's special envoy for International Trade and Multilateral Cooperation, said Indonesia joining BRICS and any other global forum must aim to fulfill the country's needs.
"We need to see how we can benefit from our presence in BRICS," the former minister of trade told China Daily on the sidelines of the gathering. "So, things depend on us and our own interests come first."
The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.
