On the ex-general’s second visit to Asia after Beijing, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida informed President-elect Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday that Japan would strengthen security ties with Indonesia.
On Monday, Prabowo—who is presently Jakarta’s defense minister—met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This was his first trip to a major trading partner since winning the February presidential election.
Beijing declared that it was “willing to deepen all-round strategic cooperation with Indonesia” during those discussions.
After that, Prabowo went to Tokyo, where he ran into Kishida.
During their meeting on Wednesday Kishida “stated that Japan attached great importance to cooperation with Indonesia in maintaining and strengthening the free and open international order based on the rule of law”, Japan’s foreign ministry said.
He added that “Japan would advance security cooperation with Indonesia besides the provision of a large patrol vessel for Indonesia decided in December 2023,” the ministry said.
The terms “free and open” and “rule of law” are often used by the United States and its allies including Japan to make a veiled reference to countering China’s increasing assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region.
China is one of the biggest sources of foreign direct investment in Indonesia and has poured billions of dollars into projects in the archipelago nation.
The foreign ministry of Tokyo stated that “president-elect Prabowo expressed his gratitude for Japan’s assistance to date and his hope to further enhance bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas including security, agriculture and fisheries as well as disaster prevention” .
Prabowo is currently en route to Malaysia, as per the Indonesian Ministry of Defense.
