Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro is on a three-day visit to Beijing at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Liang Guanglie.
Purnomo is leading a delegation of senior Indonesian Military (TNI) officers, including Defense Ministry defense strategy chief Maj. Gen. Puguh Santoso and Vice Adm. Marsetio, the Navy's deputy chief of staff, on the visit, which began on Sunday.
The delegation visited the factories of two companies manufacturing ground-to-ground, ground-to-air and air-to-ground missiles and met the companies' managers on the first day of the visit.
"At the end of the meeting, both parties agreed on a defense industry partnership, including a transfer of technology, that will benefit both," the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing said in a press statement on Monday.
Purnomo was scheduled to meet with representatives of another Chinese company focusing on the defense industry and research on Monday.
The minister was also set to engage in negotiations with Liang, and meet the vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission, Gen. Guo Boxiong.
"The official tour will end with an honorary visit on Tuesday to [Chinese] Deputy Premier Li Keqiang, who is expected to become the future premier of China," the embassy said in the statement.
Separately, Foreign Ministry director for East Asia and the Pacific Dewi Savitri Wahab denied that the visit was made in response to heightened security tensions in the region.
"President [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] and [Chinese] Prime Minister Wen Jiabao agreed in their previous meetings to encourage official, friendly visits like this. This is just one of the realizations," Dewi told The Jakarta Post over the telephone.
However, Indonesia Defense University lecturer Bantarto Bandoro said Purnomo likely visited Beijing to neutralize the TNI's close relationship with the US Armed Forces.
"There are a number of indications that we've been too close with the US, while the US wants to continue to get even closer to us. This [visit] may be a way to counterbalance that - an effort by Indonesia to realize the dynamic equilibrium concept," Bantarto said.
Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has been calling for what he dubs a "dynamic equilibrium" in the Asia Pacific region, in which no country would dominate any other country.
Bantarto said that, given the visit was made on an invitation from China, it was more likely that China needed Indonesia for political support concerning its military presence in the region.
"China needs Indonesia's support to counterbalance the US presence in Asia Pacific, including its planned deployment of [US Marines] to Darwin, Australia," Bantarto said.
Last week, Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Alexander A. Ivanov expressed his country's concern with the US military's growing presence in the region while reiterating its siding with China.
Ivanov also called the US' recent military approaches in the region "outdated", and reminiscent of "the mentality of the Cold War".
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