Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday before travelling to Japan for similar high-level talks amid rising tensions in the South China Sea, Chinese media reported.
Prabowo, who will succeed Joko Widodo in October, will meet Chinese State Council Premier Li Qiang and Defence Minister Dong Jun before flying out on Tuesday, Indonesia’s defence ministry said. The purpose of his visit to Beijing is to “strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and China and expand cooperation, especially in the field of defence.”
Indonesia announced Prabowo’s visit to Japan on Monday, saying he will meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Defence Minister Minoru Kihara on April 2-3. The announcement of the 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, calling the trip an event that “fully demonstrates the strength of China-Indonesia ties.”
A subsequent visit to Japan, a key US ally, indicates that Prabowo will continue his predecessor’s strategy of pursuing a middle ground in the US-China rivalry. China is Indonesia’s largest economic partner and has injected more than $7 billion into the country’s processing capacity.
The confrontation between China and the Philippines has intensified over the past year as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. shifted his foreign policy towards the country’s long-time ally, the US. Since Marcos took power in 2022, he has strengthened security ties with Washington and its allies. He has also championed the Philippines’ territorial claims, which overlap with China and other neighbours.
