SONG CHEN/CHINA DAILY
Prabowo Subianto’s choice of China as the destination for his first overseas visit after being sworn in as Indonesia’s president in October shows the new Indonesian government’s keenness to strengthen ties with China, boost regional cooperation and ensure regional security . from Friday to Sunday is his second this year; in March he visited the country as president-elect.
During the visit in March, the Indonesian and Chinese parties reached an agreement on further deepening bilateral cooperation. Prabowo had then said that Indonesia would like to deepen relations with China and continue President Joko Widodo’s friendly policy towards China.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Sugiono said on Tuesday that Prabowo’s visit reaffirms Jakarta’s commitment to the Sino-Indonesian comprehensive strategic partnership.
The leaders of the two countries are expected to exchange views on key bilateral and international issues during Prabowo’s visit and focus on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide range of sectors.
Cooperation between China, the second largest economy in the world and Asia, and Indonesia, the largest economy in ASEAN and a member of the G20, has been mutually beneficial. The two sides issued a joint statement last year on strengthening their comprehensive strategic partnership, which provided important guidelines for deepening cooperation in the future. In fact, Sino-Indonesian cooperation has become a model of mutually beneficial relations.
The two sides have close economic and trade ties, and the volume of bilateral trade continues to grow. China has been Indonesia’s largest trading partner for eleven consecutive years, with bilateral trade reaching $139.42 billion in 2023. China is also Indonesia’s largest import source and export destination. And in the first three quarters of this year, bilateral trade reached $105.621 billion, up 2.5 percent year-on-year.
China is a major destination for the export of Indonesia’s natural resources such as coal, palm oil, rubber and nickel ore, while Chinese mechanical and electrical products, electronics products and textiles are popular in the Indonesian market. Chinese investment in Indonesia has also grown, reaching $7.4 billion last year, making China the second-largest foreign investor in Indonesia after Singapore.
While their cooperation to expand production capacity has continuously improved, their cooperation in infrastructure has yielded fruitful results, and the two countries have strengthened their mutually beneficial cooperation in traditional areas such as mining, agriculture and fisheries.
On the other hand, Chinese companies are engaged in the construction of large-scale infrastructure facilities such as power plants, bridges, dams and high-speed railways in Indonesia. The two sides have also deepened cooperation in commodity trade and technology transfer, contributing to Indonesia’s development and improving the living standards of the Indonesian people.
In addition, the 142.3-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Line, the first high-speed line in Indonesia and Southeast Asia and a landmark project under China’s proposed Belt and Road Initiative, celebrated its first year of operation in October, with 5.79 million passengers carried, according to the China State Railway Group Co. The high-speed rail line has also benefited the local economy and helped improve people’s living standards, setting an example of high-quality cooperation in infrastructure construction in Southeast Asia.
The two countries continue to deepen all-round strategic cooperation and promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative through the China-Indonesia “Two Countries, Twin Parks” project and the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor.
In addition, the two sides are discussing the possibility of jointly developing Indonesia’s planned new capital Nusantara and the North Kalimantan Industrial Park, and building a giant seawall to prevent Jakarta from sinking into the sea faster. They are also exploring the possibility of working together in areas such as electric vehicles, e-commerce, financing and marine resource development.
For their part, Chinese companies are helping Indonesia develop its nickel industry and EV sector, and have signed memoranda of understanding on the digital economy to explore new development channels, and formed a multi-level and wide-ranging monetary and financial cooperation framework. including local currency swaps, local currency trade settlement and a cross-border payment system in renminbi.
Moreover, China and Indonesia are taking measures to deepen strategic mutual trust and strengthen coordination in international and regional affairs, while supporting each other on issues related to their core interests and upholding multilateralism.
In October, Indonesia officially expressed its desire to join the BRICS to further strengthen its economic partnership with the grouping’s member states and play a greater role in international affairs, and China welcomed Indonesia to join the grouping to connect.
Given the complex and ever-changing global situation, it is important that China and Indonesia further strengthen their overall strategic cooperation, not least because the two sides have a shared interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, serving the interests of developing countries and improving global governance.
Amid rising tensions between regions and faltering global economic recovery, it is encouraging to see China and Indonesia laying a solid foundation for promoting long-term cooperation in various fields and realizing common development.
The author is an associate professor at the National Institute of International Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of China Daily.
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