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Jokowi, Biden meet on sidelines of COP26
President Joko Widodo and United States counterpart Joe Biden finally met for in-person talks on the sidelines of the COP26 climate summit in Scotland, in efforts to normalize bilateral relations that have remained stagnant over the past few years.
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President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (right) listens as United States President Joe Biden makes a statement for the press before a bilateral meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 1, 2021. (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met with his United States counterpart Joe Biden on the sidelines of the United Nations Climate Summit (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, on Monday, in their first ever physical encounter since Biden’s inauguration earlier this year.
Officials from both sides have sought to reinvigorate US-Indonesian relations, which had been left to stagnate under former US president Donald Trump, including through a strategic dialogue that top diplomats from the two countries announced in August.
As a superpower, the US continues to exercise limits on Indonesia’s procurement of foreign military equipment while complicating trade flows that were only recently resolved.
After meeting at the virtual ASEAN Summit last week and the G20 Summit in Italy over the weekend, Biden touted Jokowi’s leadership in the Indo-Pacific as “essential” as he sought to win favor amid a simmering rivalry with China.
“From addressing the climate crisis to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, to upholding freedom of the seas, there’s no global challenge today that doesn’t benefit from Indonesia and the United States working together,” Biden said in remarks to open the meeting, in what is seen as a subtle dig at Chinese activities in the South China Sea.
Indonesia is the largest economy in 10-nation ASEAN, a diplomatic bloc that Washington increasingly sees as key to its efforts to stand up to Beijing’s growing influence.
In his own remarks, Jokowi said he appreciated the cooperation the two nations had forged on the pandemic response, including US donations of vaccines and medical supplies. He also expressed an interest in Indonesia playing a bigger role in the global health sector supply chain.
