Chinese Premier Li Qiang to attend next week’s Asean summits in Indonesia, meet President Joko Widodo

Foreign ministry says it expects the meetings will ‘inject more stability’ into the regional situation
Four-day trip will be Li’s first official visit to an Asean country as premier since he took office in march

China-Asean relations

Zhao Ziwen

Published: 7:02pm, 1 Sep 2023

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Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Indonesia next week to meet President Joko Widodo and attend a series of regional summits, China’s foreign ministry announced on Friday.

The four-day trip will be Li’s first official visit to a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) since he took office in March.

Wang Wenbin, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said China expects the summits to focus on “development and cooperation”, and “inject more stability and positive energy into the international and regional situation”.

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In addition to China and Asean member countries, the three summits will include representatives of nearly all major powers in the Asia-Pacific, including the United States, Russia, India, Japan and South Korea.

Wang added that China hopes that the summits will uphold an “open and inclusive Asean-centred regional cooperation framework”, and “adhere to real multilateralism” while opposing “small-circle” activities that “create divisions and undermine regional peace and stability”.

The summits come amid heightened tensions in the Asia-Pacific, especially in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea.

“The current international and regional situation is evolving in a complex manner … the countries of the region have a strong desire for peace and development,” Wang said.

“China expects to deepen development cooperation with Indonesia and the two countries will promote regional prosperity through modernisation,” he said.

The biggest and most populous economy in Southeast Asia has maintained close relations with China despite ongoing tensions in the South China Sea.

Widodo is one of the few leaders who visited Beijing and met Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2022 during the country’s zero-Covid restrictions. The two leaders also met in July in Chengdu during the FISU World University Games.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi in July.

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Indonesia is one of the most active members of the Belt and Road Initiative, and Xi unveiled his maritime silk road plan – the strategy’s sea route – in the country in 2013.

Construction is expected to finish this year on a high-speed railway connecting Jakarta with the economic hub of Bandung, marking the completion of one of China’s most high-profile infrastructure cooperation projects in the country.

However, Indonesia has also remained close to Washington, especially regarding the South China Sea.

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US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Indonesian Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto met last week in Washington, when they discussed boosting defence capabilities, such as “fighter aircraft upgrades, new multi-role fighter aircraft and additional fixed and rotary wing transport aircraft”, according to the Pentagon.

The two countries also stated that Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea were “inconsistent with international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos)”.