On January 21, 2016 local time, President Xi Jinping sent a letter to President Joko Widodo of Indonesia, congratulating on the groundbreaking of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project.
Xi Jinping pointed out that joint building of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway is an important consensus of both sides and also a major early harvest from the strategic docking of the two countries. As the first high-speed railway in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway will vigorously drive the regions along the line to build a “Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway economic belt”. The successful launch of the project not only set a new record in pragmatic cooperation between China and Indonesia, it will also become a new model for bilateral cooperation in various fields, particularly in infrastructure and production capacity. It is hoped that the two sides further strengthen their joint efforts to ensure the smooth construction and due completion of the project, so as to make it a successful model for China-Indonesia mutually beneficial cooperation.
Xi Jinping stressed that as major developing countries in Asia, China and Indonesia both face the arduous task of developing economy and improving people’s livelihood. The initiative of building the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” put forward by China is highly consistent with Indonesia’s idea of “Global Maritime Axis”, therefore both sides are embracing an important opportunity to realize common development and prosperity. I believe that both sides will carry out more substantial cooperation in more fields so as to ensure constant and in-depth development of bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership and bring benefits to both countries and peoples.
On the same day, State Councilor Wang Yong and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia together attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project.