Coronavirus: Indonesia’s roll-out of Sinovac vaccine and Wang Yi visit give China’s image a shot in the arm

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi has met the most senior aide of Indonesian President Joko Widodo as he begins the latest leg of a regional tour widely seen as an attempt by Beijing to strengthen its position in Southeast Asia ahead of the inauguration of US president-elect Joe Biden.

Wang began his two-day visit to Indonesia a day before the country’s roll-out of a Chinese developed coronavirus vaccine, meeting the Maritime and Investment Affairs minister Luhut Pandjaitan on Tuesday at a hotel near Lake Toba in North Sumatra to discuss investment in tourism infrastructure. Luhut said afterwards he hoped the meeting with his “best friend” would “boost the good and sustainable relationships” between the countries.

On Wednesday, Wang is expected to fly to Jakarta to meet Widodo and Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi to discuss what Luhut referred to as “strategic cooperation”. While in the capital Wang is expected to witness the Indonesian leader receive the first of two doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine, which has been undergoing clinical trials in the country.

Such images are likely to boost China’s profile as it attempts to show countries in the region that it is a valuable ally while the US has become preoccupied with domestic problems. Wang, who began his tour in Myanmar, will also visit Brunei and the Philippines.

In recent years, China’s relationship with its Southeast Asian neighbours has been complicated by overlapping territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea. Tensions have increased under the US administration of Donald Trump, which has described China’s maritime claims as unlawful and, in a move seemingly aimed at China, recently said it would deploy the US coastguard vessels to fight “illegal, unreported and unregulated” fishing in the Pacific.