Indonesia and China will intensify their defense cooperation as part of efforts to implement a strategic partnership they had agreed upon on April 25, 2005, ANTARA quoted Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono as saying. "The details of the intensification effort will be discussed when Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan visits Jakarta next January 15-20," Juwono said here on Wednesday. He said during his reciprocal Indonesian visit, the Chinese defense minister would also focus on the realization of the Indonesia-China defense cooperation accord which was signed last November. Juwono said defense cooperation between Indonesia and China would not lead to the conclusion of a defense pact but be focused on technical cooperation such as exchange of officers, education and training and joint development of defense industries. He said the two countries had signed an agreement on bilateral defense cooperation, which was intended as a realization of the strategic partnership agreement the two nations signed when Chinese President Hu Jintao visited Indonesia in April 2005. The commitment was strengthened by the return visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhohono to Beijing in 2006. So far, Indonesia and China had established defense and military cooperation in the education and training sector, exchange of officers` visits, defense industries, joint exercises, joint production, transfer of technology, intelligence information exchange and cooperation in the fields of technology and science and defense industries. In the 2007-2008 budget year, the Chinese government had offered 21 kinds of education and training and courses for 23 officers from Indonesia. It also offered two military officers to attend a seminar themed "ASEAN Armed Forces International Disaster Relief" in China. The Indonesia-China strategic partnership also covered the economic field. Indonesia is the largest economy in ASEAN, and China is Indonesia's fourth biggest trade partner. Two-way trade has reached a value of 16.7 billion US dollars, and was expected to surpass 30 billion US dollars in 2010.
