Indonesian president and Chinese premier meet to discuss expanding trade during US trade war

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto on Sunday to discuss ways to expand trade and investment during the U.S. global trade war and as economic globalization faces headwinds.

Li arrived in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Saturday afternoon for a three-day visit to Southeast Asia’s largest economy. It was the first stop of his first overseas visit this year.

Indonesia and China are member states of the Group of 20 major developing countries and emerging economies and of BRICS.

Li brought 60 prominent Chinese businesspeople for his address to the Indonesia-China Business Reception on Saturday evening. He emphasized in his remarks that China’s economy has achieved rapid growth this year despite increasing external challenges.

“The current international situation is a stalemate,” Li said at the event, which was also attended by Subianto. “Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, bullying behavior is increasing.”

Li noted this year marks the 70th anniversary of the conception of the Non-Aligned Movement by Asian and African countries in Indonesia’s Bandung city when the world was at a historical crossroads.

The Bandung spirit of solidarity, friendship and cooperation has played a pivotal role in the unity and cooperation of the Global South countries, Li said.

“More than seven decades later, the world is once again at an important crossroads,” Li said.

He called on all countries to seek common ground while resolving differences through dialogue and peaceful coexistence.

Subianto expressed gratitude to the Chinese government and its companies “that have participated in our economy, created jobs, transferred technology and built trust among all businesses, especially in our homeland.”

He also invited Chinese businesspeople to invest more in Indonesia. Two-way trade exceeded $147.8 billion last year, growing by 6.1%.

Li said for nine consecutive years, China has been Indonesia’s largest trading partner, and its Belt and Road cooperation program has seen substantive progress, including nickel smelting plants and Whoosh, the commercial service of Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway which has been operating since October 2023, carrying nearly 10 million passengers.

Indonesia wants a larger role in supplying nickel and other raw materials to China’s fast-growing electric car makers.

On Sunday, Subianto hosted Li in a ceremony at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta before the two leaders held a bilateral meeting behind closed doors.

“The current international situation is facing a huge upheaval, and peaceful development is facing many uncertain and unstable factors,” Li said in his opening remarks.

China wants to strengthen its traditional friendship and Belt and Road Initiative partnership with Indonesia, especially in five key pillars: politics, economy, maritime affairs, security and cultural and people-to-people exchanges.” Li said.

Li’s visit to Jakarta in September 2023 came with $21.7 billion in new Chinese investment, following a previous $44.89 billion investment commitment made when former President Joko Widodo met Chinese President Xi Jinping in July the same year.

The two leaders oversaw the signing of a dozen agreements including cooperation to encourage bilateral transactions in local currencies, trade, investment, tourism, health and agricultural exports.

Subianto emphasized the close historical relationship between Indonesia and China and said the two countries are at an important moment in the history of bilateral relations.

“I reiterate our commitment to strengthening our comprehensive strategic partnership with the people and the government of China,” Subianto said. “We see this will bring goodness not only to the two countries, but also to the entire Asian region.”

Indonesia’s Minister of Investment and Downstream, Rosan Roeslani, who is also the head of the Investment Coordinating Board, said that Li’s visit brought prospects for concrete cooperation, including the implementation of $10 billion in investment that was previously agreed upon by the two countries.

“The investment has started and covers a number of strategic sectors,” Roeslani told reporters, adding that the visit will also open opportunities for several new collaborations in the fields of transportation, industrial cluster development, mineral downstreaming and the chemical sector.

Li is scheduled to meet with Indonesian parliament members Sunday. On Monday, he will head to Malaysia, where he and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim are scheduled to address the ASEAN-GCC-China Economic Summit, attended by leaders from Southeast Asian countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

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