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President Prabowo Subianto told the forum that his country wants
to be part of China's emergence as not only an economic but also
a “civilizational power.”
“We must give an example that in this modern age, collaboration
— not confrontation — is the way for peace and prosperity,” he
said.
Subianto wrapped up the first stop of his first overseas trip
since taking office three weeks ago. He is headed next to
Washington — where the U.S. government is confronting China’s
rise — and then to Peru and Brazil for the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation and Group of 20 summits.
He and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Saturday to deepen
ties, elevating security to a fifth “pillar” of cooperation in
addition to political, economic, maritime and people-to-people
exchange. They agreed to hold a first-ever joint meeting of
their foreign and defense ministers in 2025, a joint statement
said.
“Indonesia is very clear," Subianto said. "We have always been
nonaligned, we have always been respectful of all great powers
in the world.”
Indonesia has remained on the periphery of the territorial
disputes between China and its Southeast Asian neighbors in the
South China Sea. It doesn’t have a formal dispute with Beijing
though Indonesia said its patrol ships repeatedly drove a
Chinese coast guard vessel away from an Indonesian energy
company vessel conducting a seismic survey less than a month
ago.
Chinese companies have invested heavily in mining in Indonesia,
as they have elsewhere in the world. China also helped build
Indonesia's first high-speed railway, a 142-kilometer (88-mile)
route between Jakarta and Bandung that opened last year.
But a flood of low-priced Chinese products has hit Indonesia's
garment makers hard, shuttering factories and prompting calls
for import tariffs. The government has sought to placate
domestic producers while not angering the country’s biggest
trading partner.
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