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Wang Yi calls for closer China-Indonesia ties
Chinese foreign minister lauds 'common interests'
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op 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’ economic recovery.
“This year, China is embarking on a new journey of [...] building a modern socialist country, and Indonesia is working toward its Vision 2045. We represent the developing world and emerging economies. We share broad common interests. So, for our two countries, mutually beneficial cooperation and solidarity [will bring] strategic significance and global influence,” the Chinese state councilor said in his remarks through a translator.
Indonesia’s Vision 2045 is a broad road map for national development that commemorates 100 years of the nation’s independence in 24 years. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo aims for the country to get into the world’s top five-largest economies and escape the middle-income trap.
Vision 2045 was set out at the beginning of Jokowi’s second term in 2019, a few months before SARS-Cov-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — was discovered in Wuhan, China.
The disease went on to spread around the world and ravage the world’s economies, although the promise of vaccines has inspired governments to hang on.
Having supplied Indonesia with the CoronaVac vaccine produced by Sinovac Biotech, China was ready to continue vaccine research, purchasing and production cooperation with Indonesia, Wang Yi said, and promised it would support Indonesia’s ambition to become a regional production hub for vaccines.
In her remarks, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi said Indonesia was focused on developing national health resilience, among other issues, through improvements to the healthcare industry and self-reliance on pharmaceutical ingredients and medical devices.
“Indonesia is open to cooperating with China and other countries in regards to this plan,” she said on Wednesday.
Despite their common interests, the two countries do not share much in the way of common values, said Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) research professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar. She noted that while China is a one-party state, Indonesia has a multiparty, pluralistic democracy and vast differences in its social makeup with China.
“In international relations, realpolitik interests will always dominate, but values will always limit the scope of cooperation,” the foreign policy scholar said, pointing out that Indonesia had always kept its options open.
Despite the waning influence of the US in the region, especially following the violent mob attack in the country’s capital led by President Donald Trump supporters, Dewi noted that Indonesian officials were not gloating about the incident.
“We empathize with what happened [in Washington, DC, because we’ve been there and we understand the damage that can be inflicted by right-wing extremists. It’s an acknowledgment that the democratic system must be protected,” the LIPI researcher said on Wednesday.
China, on the other hand, has openly mocked the storming of Capitol Hill and used it to cast a narrative of hypocrisy.
Despite the warm reception that some Indonesian officials have demonstrated for China in recent years, the country still has a complicated relationship with Beijing.
Indonesia has been vocal about illegal Chinese fishing incursions into its waters and protested over the abuse and exploitation of its seafarers on Chinese vessels. It has also seen anti-Chinese sentiments simmer over questions of an uptick in foreign labor and Chinese-linked projects.
However, the Chinese foreign minister’s remarks also reflected the current state of warming relations.
The two countries aim to link the Belt and Road initiative and Jokowi’s Global Maritime Fulcrum vision, and explore cooperation on technological innovations such as 5G networks, artificial intelligence and big data, Wang Yi said.
There were two outcome documents from Wednesday’s meeting: a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the foreign ministries on “collaborative activities” and the minutes of meeting of a prefeasibility study for the Lambakan Dam project in East Kalimantan.
In the meeting, Indonesia also raised the issue of the protection of Indonesian seafarers, reiterated ASEAN centrality and the implementation of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. Retno also conveyed the importance of upholding international law to maintain regional peace and security in the South China Sea. China still makes illegal and sweeping claims over the maritime trade route.
Prior to arriving in Jakarta, Wang Yi stopped in North Sumatra on Tuesday, meeting Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan to discuss various major economic projects and witness the signing of two MoUs on cybersecurity and cooperation on industrial parks.
