"The key is no party must be tempted to use military power. If this is agreed upon any problem in South China will have its solution," Yudhoyono said.Naw Pyi Taw (ANTARA News) - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on all countries involved in or concerned with the problems in South China Sea to refrain from using military power to settle them.
"The key is no party must be tempted to use military power. If this is agreed upon any problem in South China will have its solution," he said at a press conference before leaving home to Jakarta after attending an ASEAN Summit here on Monday.
He said one of the topics of discussions in the meeting was whether the rise of China was a threat or not.
Indonesia, he said, would see it from various angles. Based on it the rise of China could be made positive and responded without worries through mutually beneficial cooperation among countries in the region.
"We do not wish the rise of China to become not peaceful because if it will it would create serious problems. We must even cooperate, hold dialogue with China so that the worries will not come true. We must be active together because an economically strong China would bring benefit to countries in the region and therefore it would be better if China could become trade and investment partners and would not become a threat in terms of politics and security to the region," he said.
President Yudhoyono said the direction of Indonesias foreign policy so far has been the same as the one applied by earlier governments since first President Soekarno to President Megawati including towards building relations with China.
"This is not a rhetoric or a motto but we have implemented for the past 10 years during which we have built 16 strategic or comprehensive partnerships with almost all big countries," he said.
President Yudhoyono said he believed the policy would also be followed by the next president for the progress and welfare of the nation.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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