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Indonesia ‘good friends’ with US and China, can play role in reducing tensions: defence minister
- Indonesia remains neutral diplomatically and will maintain ties with major powers including China, Russia, said Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto after meeting US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin
- The meeting came three days after Prabowo visited China’s Xi’an city, underlining Indonesia’s intent to remain neutral amid US-China rivalry
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Indonesia will always take a neutral diplomatic position and maintain relationships with major powers including China and Russia, though it will defend its sovereignty when needed, the country’s defence minister said on Monday during a news briefing with his American counterpart.
“Indonesia always takes the position of trying to maintain the best of relationships with all nations, especially all major powers. We have openly declared many, many times that we consider China to be a friendly nation to Indonesia,” Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto said after meeting US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday.
Prabowo said Indonesia prioritised dialogue on matters of “possible misunderstandings, possible differences of opinions in matters of territorial waters”, but that it would “defend our sovereignty and will defend our independence” in case of intrusions.
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The meeting came three days after Prabowo visited China’s Xi’an city at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe, underlining Indonesia’s intent to remain neutral amid the US-China rivalry.
He said Indonesia, being “good friends” to both the US and China, could play a supporting role in “maintaining communications, relationships” to prevent an escalation of tensions.
Our American friends have never pressured us to cease our relationship with China, so we value our relationship with China
Prabowo noted that Jakarta had not faced any pressure from Washington regarding its relations with Beijing.
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