Indonesia’s Joko Widodo urges China to ‘use its influence’ to prevent rise in conflict in Middle East
- Both countries voiced support for Palestinian membership in the United Nations, with Widodo also encouraging China to invest in Indonesia’s new capital
- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a two-day visit to Indonesia, also urged the US to abide by the UN resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has urged China to use its influence to prevent an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, as both nations voiced support for Palestinian membership in the United Nations.
Widodo met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday, with China’s top diplomat on a two-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation, where he is set to attend the China-Indonesia High-level Dialogue Cooperation Mechanism in Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara on Friday.
On Thursday, Wang also held a meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi and defence minister and president-elect Prabowo Subianto.
“The president emphasised that no party wants to see an escalation [of the conflict in the Middle East], and Mr President said that Indonesia continues to carry out diplomatic communications with various parties including Iran and the United States,” Retno told reporters after the Widodo-Wang meeting.
“Mr President also expressed his confidence that China would also use its influence so that escalation could be prevented,” Retno said, adding that Indonesia and China “fully support Palestine’s membership in the UN”.
In the meeting, Widodo also encouraged China to invest in the 466 trillion rupiah (US$28 billion) new capital city currently being built in East Kalimantan, particularly in developing modes of transport there, as well as investing the North Kalimantan industrial park, especially in the petrochemical sector, Retno said.
China is Indonesia’s biggest trade partner, as trade volume between the two countries last year reached US$127 billion, and its second-biggest foreign investor last year with realised investment of US$7.4 billion, behind Singapore’s US$15.4 billion.
Both sides agreed on focused areas in their economic cooperation, including the downstreaming industry, which sees Chinese companies build domestic mineral refineries, renewable energy transition, food security, infrastructure, and information technology.
With Prabowo, Wang spoke about strengthening bilateral defence ties, including through a joint military exercise and military education cooperation.
“We appreciate China’s enthusiasm in planning joint exercises with Indonesia. We really hope that the joint training plan between the two countries can be realised in the near future,” Prabowo said, according to a statement released by his spokeswoman.
Wang also congratulated Prabowo on winning Indonesia’s February presidential election, where he garnered nearly 60 per cent of the votes, the statement said.
02:42
Israeli forces open fire on crowd of Palestinians seeking aid,, as Gaza death toll surpasses 30,000
Gaza ceasefire
Israel’s war in Gaza was put in the spotlight in Wang’s joint news conference with Retno on Thursday, during which Wang urged the US to “learn basic knowledge of international law” after Washington said the recent resolution passed by the UN Security Council calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza was not legally binding.
“The whole world was very surprised by what the United States said. This attitude again shows their hegemonic mentality. As every UN member country knows, UN Security Council decisions are … legally binding international law,” Wang said.
“We hope that the United States will let go of its selfish mentality and listen carefully to the words of the international community. We suggest that US officials re-learn basic knowledge of international law.”
On March 25, the Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages, and an expansion of aid into war-ravaged Gaza. The US decided to abstain from the vote, the only state in the 15-member council to do so. The US has previously vetoed similar attempts to create a ceasefire in Gaza.
Several officials in Washington later said the resolution was not legally binding, including State Department spokesman Matthew Miller and White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who said on March 25 that “it’s a non-binding resolution, so there’s no impact at all on Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas”.
Wang said it was hoped the US would “change its arrogant habits and cooperate as an ordinary UN member and carry out their responsibilities” by supporting the UN resolution to ease the suffering of the Palestinians.
On her part, Retno stressed Indonesia’s position that the Palestinian issue could be resolved “fairly” through the implementation of the two-state solution.
The two sides also discussed regional issues such as stability in the Indo-Pacific, which Retno said could “only be realised if all parties respect international law”.
Wang said Beijing “is willing to work with Asean states to speed up the Code of Conduct to develop the South China Sea into a sea of peace and cooperation”.
