Beijing – Vice Premier Qian Qichen on Tuesday repeated China's calls to Indonesia to take action over the violence directed against ethnic Chinese during Jakarta's May riots.

"The Chinese government is deeply concerned about the attacks on Chinese-Indonesians which occurred in Indonesia in May," Qian said, according to the Xinhua news agency. "We have noticed that the Indonesian government promised to deal with the incident in a serious way," Qian told a reception marking China's National Day.

"We hoped that the Indonesian side would handle the incident properly as soon as possible and prevent such things from happening again," he added. Ethnic-Chinese had made "indelible contributions" to the development of Indonesia and thus "should enjoy the same treatment and rights" as other Indonesians, he said.

The official China Daily earlier this month accused Indonesian President B.J. Habibie of trying to confuse the public over the reported mass rape of ethnic Chinese women during the May violence in Jakarta.

"It is all too clear that what he is attempting is just to confuse public opinion on what did happen," the China Daily said in an editorial. "With their unhealed wounds still bleeding, ethnic Chinese now have to endure their president's irresponsible words. Is this fair?"

Habibie has said he believed media reports of rape cases had been exaggerated, and Indonesian military chief General Wiranto says no evidence has been found to support allegations of mass rapes during the bloody May riots.