Beijing – Both China and the United States yesterday urged the Indonesian government to pursue follow-up investigations as proposed in a fact-finding team's report on the May riots.

At a bi-weekly news conference here, China called on Indonesia to investigate fully the reports of rapes during the riots. "We have already taken note of such reports and expressed our concern," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said. "We are of the view that the Indonesian government has the responsibility to thoroughly investigate and handle the relevant issues and prevent similar incidents from happening again," he said.

Mr Zhu said that China, as a friendly neighbour, hoped that Indonesia "can maintain social stability and that Indonesian people of all ethnic groups including Chinese can enjoy equal rights and live in harmony".

A fact-finding team, which issued its report this week, confirmed gang rapes had occurred during the riots that rocked Jakarta in May and suspected the involvement of a military unit headed by the son-in-law of former President Suharto, Lieutenant-General Prabowo Subianto. The team said it had verified 85 cases of sexual assault, including 52 cases of rape of ethnic Chinese women during the unrest, but could not say if they had been organised.

Earlier, the US urged the Indonesian government to follow up on the fact-finding team report that "military leaders and others" may have been involved in the May riots. A statement issued by State Department spokesman James Rubin urged Jakarta to take steps to prevent intimidation of those who helped compile the report.

Mr Rubin welcomed the initiative of the government of Mr Suharto's successor, Dr B.J. Habibie, in setting up the fact-finding team, and said it found the results "credible" and "balanced" despite the difficult circumstances which had faced members, including receiving "anonymous death threats".

But he said it was "crucial in order to restore credibility and confidence that the... government implement the team's recommendations, including further investigation of military leaders and others alleged to be involved in fomenting or participating in the violence".

[In a separate report on the same day, the Times said two Indonesian newspapers have also supported the call for a full investigation. In an editiorial the Indonesia Observer praised the team for its work and urged armed forces chief General Wiranto to investigate the role of Lt-Gen Prabowo Subianto and senior military figures in the violence. A Jakarta Post editorial said the report's findings could help in bringing about a solution for the problem but it added that the team's suggestion that a power struggle was behind the violence raised the "nagging but potentially horrifying question" about the Java murders - James Balowski.]