T

he historic speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping to the House of Representatives will be broadcast live to Chinese audiences through television and radio channels.

Wang Peijun, head of press and public affairs section at the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post that the speech would be broadcast on China Central Television (CCTV) Channels 1 and 4 as well as on China Radio International (CRI).

'€œThere will also be a number of newspapers sending their reports,'€ he told the Post on Tuesday.

Xi will deliver the historic speech on Thursday, the first ever made by a Chinese leader in a foreign parliament as well as the first speech made by a foreign leader to the House.

The Chinese leader is scheduled to begin his visit on Wednesday. Xi will then pay a state visit to Malaysia before heading to Bali for the APEC Summit.

Last Tuesday, spokesman and director general of the information department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs'€™ (MoFA), Qin Gang, said in Beijing that the speech would be broadcast live to China.

Separately, deputy director general of the Asian department at MoFA, Hong Liang, said that the speech would likely focus on bilateral ties between both countries as well as ASEAN-China relations.

Hong said that the visit would examine the prospects for improved relations between both countries.

'€œIndonesia is the largest country in ASEAN. We hope China and Indonesia can play a leading role in China-ASEAN relations,'€ he told visiting journalists from a number of ASEAN countries.

Describing the relationship between the both countries as dynamic and strategic, he said expected the visit would include comprehensive cooperation such as in the aviation and maritime sectors.

He said that China had set aside a fund of 1 billion yuan (US$163,300) for Indonesia on top of the 3 billion yuan fund prepared for the ASEAN-China maritime drive.

'€œThis year we are celebrating the 23rd anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue and the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership,'€ he said. '€œThe president will propose some of his thoughts on China-ASEAN. How to promote mutual trust, stability, prosperity and mutual cooperation.'€

In addition to the speech at the House, Xi is also scheduled to have bilateral talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on priority issues in the strategic partnership framework including the economy and development, defense and security, maritime and fisheries and people-to-people contacts.

Both leaders will also exchange views on various regional and global concerns including cooperation in the East Asia Summit, APEC and the United Nations.

The Chinese Minister of Commerce'€™s deputy director general of Asian affairs department, Liang Wentao, told the visiting journalists that he expected Indonesia to become its largest trading partner among ASEAN countries.

'€œIt will take time as we started later. Indonesia will catch up,'€ he said in Beijing.

'€œSome 1,000 Chinese enterprises are investing in Indonesia, the highest among ASEAN countries. Value-wise, however, Singapore is still the largest.'€

Liang also predicted that ASEAN would soon become China'€™s second largest trading partner surpassing the US in the next few years.

'€œThe bilateral trade with ASEAN in 2012 reached $400 billion and $284.3 billion as of August 2013. There is only a gap of between $40 billion and $50 billion between the ASEAN and US figures,'€ he said.

He said trade with the US only grew by 6 percent while trade with ASEAN grew at 22 percent on average annually. The European Union is China'€™s largest trading partner.