China and Indonesia vow to boost defence ties as Prabowo Subianto seeks to reassure Beijing ahead of inauguration

Indonesian president-elect and defence minister Prabowo Subianto meets Chinese defence chief Dong Jun on first overseas trip since winning election
They pledge to step up joint military drills and personnel exchanges

China’s military

Hayley Wongin Beijing

Published: 8:00pm, 3 Apr 2024

Why you can trust SCMP

China pledged to strengthen joint military exercises and personnel exchanges with Indonesia as president-elect Prabowo Subianto visited Beijing.

Prabowo, currently serving as Indonesia’s defence minister, met Chinese defence chief Dong Jun on Tuesday as part of his first overseas trip since his country’s election in February. Earlier in the week, Prabowo met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

Dong told Prabowo that as the world and the region face multiple challenges, the two countries should “work together to safeguard international fairness and justice as well as regional security and stability”.

China not expected to let past overshadow ties with Indonesia’s new leader

“The Chinese military is willing to consolidate strategic trust, deepen joint exercises and training, and increase personnel exchanges with the Indonesian military,” Dong said, according to the Chinese defence ministry.

Prabowo agreed, according to a statement from Jakarta, saying Indonesia was willing to strengthen defence cooperation with China and continue promoting the development of ties between the armed forces of the two countries.

Prabowo is set to take office as Indonesia’s next leader in October, succeeding Joko Widodo. He began a rare pre-inauguration trip to China on Sunday to reinforce friendly ties and offer reassurance to Beijing about future policies.

But Jakarta, a key member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has maintained a policy of non-alignment amid rising tensions in the South China Sea. And it chose Japan – a US ally – as the next stop on Prabowo’s tour.

Prabowo told Xi on Monday that he would continue Widodo’s “friendly policy” towards China and was ready to strengthen coordination on international and regional affairs.

China willing to work with Indonesia to ‘run relay race well’, Xi tells Prabowo

Xi praised China-Indonesia cooperation under Widodo, which he said hinged on their “strategic independence and mutual trust”.

As the countries continue joint projects and free-trade agreements under the Belt and Road Initiative, they should understand and support one another on issues involving each other’s “core interests and major concerns”, he told Prabowo.

Economic relations between the two countries have grown substantially under Widodo’s decade of leadership. Indonesia was the biggest recipient of Chinese foreign direct investment in the Asia-Pacific region last year, according to a report by Griffith Asia Institute in March.

Meanwhile, Jakarta and Washington have upgraded security ties. The two signed a defence cooperation arrangement last November as Washington attempted to upgrade relations with Indo-Pacific countries to counter Beijing’s growing influence.

Writing of South China Sea rule book delayed by lack of trust: maritime expert

Beijing and Jakarta have conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea, where tensions have increased in the past year due to stand-offs between China and the Philippines.

Negotiations for a legally binding code of conduct for the South China Sea, which Indonesia pledged to accelerate, have also slowed because of disagreements.

When Xi and Widodo met in October, they agreed to establish a dialogue mechanism between defence ministers and foreign ministers to “expand high-level channels for strategic communication and dialogue platforms for political, defence and security cooperation”.