Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto recently engaged in back-to-back talks with the military top brass of the world’s biggest economic superpowers: China and the US.

In a social media post uploaded on Wednesday, Prabowo wrote that he had hosted Chinese General Xu Xueqiang for dinner in Jakarta the day before. Xu leads the Chinese military’s equipment development department. The meeting, which zeroed in on defense technologies, came at a time when Jakarta was trying to upgrade its arms arsenal.

“Amidst an intimate dinner, we discussed the strengthening of military technology, which [General Xu’s] department mainly focuses on. This visit reaffirms our countries’ commitment to promote the self-reliance of our national defense industries,” Prabowo said. 

“... And also to boost global competitiveness through strategic partnership and technology transfer.”

The Chinese Embassy in Indonesia did not immediately respond to the Jakarta Globe’s request for comments.

But when Prabowo met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping late last year, both leaders had agreed to promote high-level military-to-military exchanges and conduct joint exercises.

The dinner took place only a day after Prabowo received the US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) medal. General Bryan Fenton, the USSOCOM commander, even came to Jakarta to give the medal in person. Washington said it wanted to thank Prabowo for his “outstanding support” for special operations forces and stronger bilateral defense ties.

“We enjoy our deep relationship with the Indonesian military as crucial partners to ensure stability in the region,” Fenton was quoted as saying in a US Embassy press release.

Indonesia and the US are gearing up for their joint military exercise -- the Super Garuda Shield -- later this month. As many as fourteen countries will take part in the two-week drills. Canada, France, and South Korea, among others, took part in the 2024 edition.

Prabowo has repeatedly said that he wanted to befriend all countries in what he called a “good neighbor” foreign policy. The retired army general picked China as the first country he visited after assuming power in October. Prabowo recently spoke on the phone with US President Donald Trump over tariff hikes that would enter into force in less than 24 hours.

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