Jokowi Meets Xi
Indonesian President Joko Widodo is in Beijing today where he meets with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping as well as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
It will be the fifth time Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi, will visit China, which ranks as Indonesia’s number one trading partner.
But this visit is different. Xi’s audiences with foreign leaders have largely been kept to videoconferences since the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, and the last time the Chinese president met another world leader in person was in February, when Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics.
As current president of the G-20, Widodo will hope to earn the right to host Xi later this year in Bali at the group’s summit meeting and is expected to extend the invitation in person during today’s visit.
Xi’s attendance at the summit would be out of the ordinary. He has only left mainland China once since February 2020 to visit Hong Kong. Even if China’s zero-covid policy is still in place, Xi’s position will likely be stronger by the time the Bali meeting rolls around. It comes just after the Chinese Communist Party Congress, where Xi is expected to be named to a third term in office.
In keeping with Indonesia’s historically non-aligned position between global powers, Widodo has also invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the summit. The Kremlin has accepted, but has yet to confirm whether Putin will go in person. (Wary of taking sides, Widodo also extended an invite to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky).
Beyond those diplomatic niceties, Widodo and Xi have business to discuss. The Indonesian leader is expected to bring up the topic of funding for his planned new capital Nusantara, a $34 billion project aimed at supplanting the current sinking seat of government in Jakarta.
The two also have a chance to discuss the development of the high-speed Jakarta-Bandung railway, which has been constructed with the help of China’s state owned enterprises but has been plagued by delays. Although the rail line isn’t officially a Belt and Road project, the visit is also an opportunity to renew Indonesia’s participation in the infrastructure initiative since the original memorandum of understanding between the two nations expires this month.
On Xi’s side of the table, he’s expected to bring up the AUKUS submarine deal which will see the U.S. and U.K. provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. China has been an outspoken opponent of the deal and Xi may find a sympathetic ear with the Indonesian leader, whose government viewed AUKUS “cautiously” when it was announced and expressed deep concern “over the continuing arms race and power projection in the region.”
Any chance of a Chinese-Indonesia military alignment is unlikely, however, not least because of their competing claims in the South China Sea. And although the Biden administration has struggled to align its foreign-policy priorities toward Asia, the Indonesian and U.S. militaries retain close ties.
Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the U.S. joint chiefs of staff, visited Indonesia earlier this week, the first time the highest-ranking U.S. military officer has travelled to the country since 2008. Milley said he wanted the U.S. military to “develop interoperability” with Indonesian forces and “modernize our militaries collectively,” so that they could “meet whatever challenge that China poses.”