Jakarta. President-elect Prabowo Subianto recently met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on his first foreign trip since being declared the winner in the February election. 

The talks, which took place on Monday evening local time, put emphasis on the existing cooperation, including the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, as well as the future direction of the bilateral partnership. Prabowo also told Xi of Indonesia’s unchanging stance -- be it on the One China principle, as well as the outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s policies towards Beijing.

“He [Prabowo] expressed his full support for the development of closer ties with China. He said he was willing to continue Jokowi’s friendly policies towards China, while also adhering to independence, and stick to the One China policy which the Indonesian government has always pursued,” a press release issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry reads. 

Under Jokowi’s leadership, Chinese investment continues to pour in. In 2023 alone, Indonesia amassed $7.4 billion of foreign direct investment from China. Data shows China is also among Indonesia’s top trading partners, although Jakarta oftentimes struggles with trade deficits. Indonesia-China trade amounted to $127.8 billion throughout 2023. Jakarta finally posted a $2 billion surplus after years of witnessing a trade deficit worth billions of dollars with China in previous years. 

Jokowi’s second term also saw the launch of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. This project is part of Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, which sees China making mammoth infrastructure investments across the globe.

“The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train is the exemplar of high-quality bilateral ties. Indonesia-China relations have entered a new stage of building a community with a shared future. China views its relations with Indonesia from a strategic and long-term perspective. It is willing to intensify its strategic comprehensive partnership with Indonesia …,” the press release reads.

Xi did not explicitly mention the “One China Policy” in the press release. However, Xi said both Indonesia and China should “firmly support each other in safeguarding sovereignty, security, and development interests”.

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