JAKARTA: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Indonesia on Thursday (18/4) and met with President Joko Widodo and his potential successor, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto. During his visit to Indonesia, Wang Yi also discussed various plans to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.
As reported by Antara, Prabowo and Wang Yi’s meeting took place at the Ministry of Defense office, Jakarta, for about an hour. There was no statement whatsoever from either Prabowo or Wang Yi after the meeting.
This meeting took place after Prabowo visited China earlier this month and met President Xi Jinping in Beijing. During the meeting, President Xi praised the good relations between the two countries. Chinese media in their reporting said that China was the first country visited by the next Indonesian leader, triggering speculation about foreign policy under Prabowo’s future leadership.
After meeting Prabowo, Wang Yi met with President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta. In a statement released by the Ministry of State Secretariat, the two discussed a number of important issues related to bilateral economic cooperation and the situation in the Middle East.
Before meeting Prabowo and Jokowi, Wang held a bilateral meeting with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. In a press statement after the meeting, Retno said there were several focuses that were being discussed, namely downstream industry, infrastructure development, manufacturing, energy transition and food security.
Meanwhile, in the meeting with Jokowi, Retno said that the President conveyed three important messages to Wang, namely regarding economic cooperation, food security and the situation in the Middle East.
Jokowi, said Retno, underlined the increase in trade volume to be more balanced between Indonesia and China and hoped for the opening of market access for Indonesian products to China, including the completion of protocols for importing Indonesian agricultural and fishery products.
China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner with a trade volume of USD 127 billion. China is also Indonesia’s largest foreign investor with an investment value of USD7.4 billion last year.
“Other things are still in the field of economic cooperation. The President is encouraging development cooperation in IKN, including for modes of transportation. “Mr President also encouraged the implementation of strategic projects in the North Kalimantan industrial area, especially for investment in the petrochemical sector,” said Retno.
Jokowi to Wang, said Retno, also expressed confidence that China could use its influence to prevent escalation in the Middle East.
“Mr President emphasized that no party wants to see an escalation and Mr President said that Indonesia continues to carry out diplomatic communications with various parties including Iran and the United States,” said Retno.
Wang on this occasion also called on all parties involved in the conflict in Gaza to exercise restraint and urged the United States to support the UN ceasefire resolution for Gaza.
“The two ministers expressed their concern over the humanitarian disaster that occurred as a result of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. We agreed that the UN Security Council resolution on a ceasefire must be implemented fully and without conditions,” Wang said as reported by Reuters.
