"Indonesia, with its sea area comprising two-thirds of its land territory, and China, with its coastal line stretching up to 18 kilometers long, have a common interest in maintaining and safeguarding their own maritime territories," Chinese Navy Deputy Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Xu Hongmeng said here on Thursday.
When receiving a courtesy call by Rear Admiral Didit Herdiawan, the Indonesian Navy`s Chief of Staff`s Operations Assistant he said the planned navy-to-navy talks between the two countries` navies would be an important milestone for strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries, especially in the field of defense and security.
"Through the navy-to-navy talks it is expected that cooperation between the Indonesian and Chinese navies could be increased and widened from time to time," he said.
"Indonesia, undeniably, has an important role to play in creating regional as well as international stability including in the maritime field," he said.
Cooperation between the Chinese and Indonesian navies at present is still limited to exchanges of command school officers.
"Those officers that we have sent to Indonesia have learned a lot, so that the existing cooperation could be continuously increased and widened," he said.
In response, Rear Admiral Didit said the Indonesian Navy praised the Chinese Navy`s hopes and would continue to cooperate and widen the existing cooperation.
"We will continue the cooperation with the Chinese navy and increase and widen the existing cooperation more concretely," he said.
The two countries` navies have explored the possibility of navy-to-navy talks since 2007.
As of Wednesday, the two navies have met to discuss terms of reference of the navy-to-navy talks.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
