Editorial | Prabowo’s election opens a new chapter in ties with China
- The stars could be aligned for Jakarta and Beijing to maintain good relations as the fundamentals are strong. Xi Jinping now wants the new Indonesian president to work together with China for the benefit of both nations and for regional security
It is more than a month since Prabowo Subianto easily won Indonesia’s presidential election according to an unofficial count. So the announcement of official confirmation by the country’s election commission might have been expected to be somewhat of an anticlimax.
But it was far from a mere formality thanks to congratulatory messages to the next leader of the world’s third-biggest democracy and Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
Chief among the well-wishers was President Xi Jinping, who hailed the two countries’ friendly ties and looked forward to the “construction of a community with a shared future”.
Describing China and Indonesia as good neighbours for a long time, Xi said he attached great importance to the development of bilateral relations and looked forward to working together with Prabowo.
This is important, coming after speculation whether the president-elect would maintain outgoing leader Joko Widodo’s economic cooperation with China under the stance of neutrality.
The two sides having opened a new chapter in bilateral relations, Xi now wants Prabowo to work together with China for the benefit of the two peoples and for the sake of regional security.