“I will do my best to deepen our friendship, strengthen our cooperation,” he said upon his arrival in Jakarta on Saturday night, as quoted in a press release from the embassy.

Wang said he would also strive “to write a new chapter in the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Indonesia”.

The two countries upgraded their strategic partnership into a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2013.

Wang was recently appointed by Chinese President Xi Jinping as the country’s 14^th ambassador to Indonesia. Wang, who previously served as director general for European affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese ambassador to New Zealand, has yet to present his credentials to the Indonesian government.

Wang noted that under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and President Xi Jinping, Jakarta and Beijing’s relations operated “at a high level”, cooperation had been “delivering fruitful results” and people-to-people exchanges had increased.

China has spent billions of dollars on Indonesia under the Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure push and in the development of downstream metals industries such as the nickel smelter industry, as well as tourism and electric vehicle manufacturing.

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