Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto is set to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday before heading to Japan for similar top-level talks amid rising tensions in the South China Sea.
Prabowo, who will succeed Joko Widodo in October, will meet with Premier Li Qiang and Defense Minister Dong Jun before departing on Tuesday, according to Indonesia’s defense ministry. His Beijing visit was intended to “strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and China and enhance cooperation, especially in the field of defense.”
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Indonesia announced Prabowo’s Japan visit on Monday, saying he will have an audience with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on April 2-3. The notice about his Japan trip came days after China’s foreign ministry said Prabowo’s first international visit since winning the election in February would be to Beijing, describing the journey as an event that “fully demonstrates the robustness of China-Indonesia ties.”
The subsequent visit to Japan—a key U.S. ally—suggests that Prabowo will continue his predecessor’s middle-of-the-road strategy in navigating the U.S.-China rivalry. China is Indonesia’s biggest economic partner and is pouring more than $7 billion into the nation’s commodity processing capacity.
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Confrontations between China and the Philippines have ratcheted up over the past year as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shifted his foreign policy back to the nation’s longtime ally, the U.S. Since Marcos took office in 2022, he has boosted security ties with Washington and its allies. He has also asserted the Philippines’ territorial claims, which overlap with China and other neighbors.
Jokowi has maintained a non-confrontational approach over the sea dispute—though Beijing’s claims cut into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone—and Xi would prefer Indonesia continue that approach. Prabowo said during his campaign that he wouldn’t pick sides in the dispute.
China claims almost all of the waterway that’s vital for global trade and is estimated to contain vast energy reserves. Beijing has ignored a 2016 international court ruling that said its efforts to assert control over the South China Sea exceeded the law.