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.

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