Jakarta’s ties with Beijing could be tested by South China Sea clashes, think tank warns

Name: Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing
Uploaded: 2024-05-24T06:00:13.000Z
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Description: Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing

Whether Indonesia can keep friendship with China amid ‘dramatic geopolitical changes’ will need ‘superb political wisdom’: Beijing-based foreign policy group

Report calls for Prabowo Subianto to work with China to lead other nations in jointly managing regional disputes amid side-picking pressures from Washington

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Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on April 1. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Cyril Ip

Published: 2:00pm, 24 May 2024Updated: 3:15pm, 24 May 2024

Indonesia has “vigorously promoted” ties with China but potential clashes in the South China Sea could test these thriving relations, a leading Chinese think tank has warned.

Whether Jakarta can maintain its friendship with Beijing amid “dramatic geopolitical changes” will require “superb political wisdom”, according to Luo Yongkun, deputy director of Southeast Asian and Oceanian Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

In a commentary published on Thursday, the research professor at the state-affiliated think tank in Beijing highlighted Indonesia’s choice to develop ties with China – in spite of the United States’ regional strategy to curb Beijing’s influence.

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Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing

“The US is vigorously promoting its ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’ and wooing Southeast Asian countries to choose sides. However, Indonesia has not joined the US ‘anti-China camp’ and instead vigorously promoted relations with China,” said Luo, who was named a “Presidential Friend of Indonesia” in 2010.

With its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington says it aims to build a region that is “free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient” with its allies and partners.

The strategy has been welcomed by the Philippines but viewed with caution by other Asean states and has ushered in more military exercises.

In his decade as Indonesian president, Joko Widodo has strengthened ties with China, with bilateral economic cooperation reaching new heights. A “2+2” dialogue mechanism for the two countries’ foreign ministers and defence ministers was agreed upon in October.