Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto said his future administration will maintain an open approach to foreign policy and won’t be drawn into selecting sides between the United States and China in a contest for influence.
“We invite the United States, Japanese, Koreans and Europeans. The fact that we are friends with you does not mean that we cannot be friends with China, India, Russia,” Prabowo said in an interview with Qatari television station Al Jazeera on Sunday.
“Our guiding philosophy is friendship with all countries,” he said.
Prabowo’s comments appear within the context of the protracted trade war between the US and China, which has turn into much more intense after US President Joe Biden plans, amongst other things, to quadruple tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made a tour of Europe in what’s seen as an try and drive a wedge between the bloc and the United States by offering economic opportunities.
Indonesia has long maintained an open approach to foreign policy, even under incumbent leader President Joko Widodo. Prabowo, who will take up the post in October, said he would proceed the country’s long-standing position of non-alignment. Despite meeting Xi in April as a part of his first foreign state visit after being declared president-elect, Prabowo also traveled to Japan – a key U.S. ally – suggesting he would proceed with a middle-of-the-road strategy in navigating the U.S. China rivalry.
China is Indonesia’s largest economic partner and is investing greater than $7 billion within the country’s commodity processing capabilities.
Jokowi has maintained a non-confrontational approach on the disputed South China Sea – although Beijing’s claims are limited to Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone – and Xi would favor Indonesia to proceed that approach. During his campaign, Prabowo said that he wouldn’t take sides within the dispute.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Prabowo also pledged to push through his free lunch program to greater than 80 million children, which he hopes will create jobs for girls and small businesses, despite criticism that the initiative could eat up the country’s budget.
Prabowo said there was no have to worry about financing and studied how resources were allocated, without going into detail within the interview. “I am very confident,” he said.
