Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi has hailed the “broad common interests” between China and Indonesia and called for closer ties amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The foreign minister was in Jakarta on Wednesday, Indonesia’s first visit by a foreign official in 2021, as part of a wider tour of Southeast Asia, a region where China has consummated its growing influence at a time when its geopolitical rival the United States was in retreat. Wang Yi said that both countries had supported one another since the onset of the outbreak last year, whether through providing medical supplies and vaccines or sharing expertise, which he said showcased their countries’ brotherly relations. The two countries had strengthened cooperation on trade and investment in spite of the challenges posed by the pandemic, which he said would become a springboard for their two nations’ eco...