Jakarta. Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi on Wednesday brought together Chinese and Russian top diplomats, Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov, for a trilateral meeting in Jakarta.

Retno was seen sitting in the middle with Wang Yi on her right side and Lavrov on her left. The meeting mostly took place behind closed doors.

Wang Yi attended the dialogue on behalf of Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Qin Gang, who could not make it to the Jakarta talks due to health reasons. Wang Yi was formerly in Qin Gang's ministerial post and is now leading China’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission. 

Later in the day, Indonesia hosted another trilateral meeting with Australian senior diplomat Penny Wong and her Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. 

“Indonesia is open to communicate and have dialogues with anyone,” Retno told reporters shortly after the three-way talks.

“But at the same time, Indonesia is very firm and consistent when it comes to issues that are related to upholding international laws as well as the values and principles of the UN Charter,” Retno said.

According to Retno, the two trilateral dialogues put emphasis on the countries’ relations with ASEAN. She added the four ministers expressed support towards ASEAN centrality, as well as Indonesia’s chairmanship of the Southeast Asian bloc.

All visiting foreign ministers are scheduled to take part in bilateral meetings with ASEAN in Jakarta on Thursday. Russia, China, India, and Australia are all dialogue partners to ASEAN. Those countries, with the exception of Russia, have established a comprehensive strategic partnership with the 10-member grouping.

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