- Indonesia’s president offers himself as a good partner
- German companies without interest in Hainan exhibition
- New heat wave rolls through southern China
- C919 completes field tests
- Xi-Biden phone call ‘imminent’
- TikTok Germany gets works council
- Trial against lawyer Chang Weiping begins
- Sinolytics: Decoupling only theoretical so far
- Heads: Stefan Geiger from Chinaforum Bayern
Joko Widodo is the first head of state Xi Jinping has met since the Beijing Winter Olympics in February. Vladimir Putin’s visit to the opening ceremony of the Olympics is now legendary. It led to China’s commitment to solidarity with Russia. The face-to-face meeting with the Indonesian president is nowhere near as ominous. But it also has far-reaching symbolic value. China cares about its partners in Southeast Asia, is the message. This way, Beijing scores with the Silk Road countries, writes Michael Radunski.
Meanwhile, German exhibitors have left the ongoing Consumer Products Expo in Hainan behind to a large extent. A mistake, thinks Frank Sieren. China’s tropical island will become the core of a free trade structure that offers good opportunities for foreign trade. After all, the development of the location is a project close to Xi’s heart. France has already recognized these opportunities and is attending this year as a guest of honor.
Finn Mayer-Kuckuk
Feature
Widodo offers Xi foreign policy support
It is a rare sight during the Covid pandemic: In Beijing, China’s President Xi Jinping allows another state leader to approach him within arm’s length. The honor went to his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo. The two leaders agreed on Tuesday to develop their two countries’ relations to great strategic importance. This way, they want to gain far-reaching global influence.
It is a visit that is important for both sides. For Xi, it marks the end of his self-imposed isolation: It is his first direct meeting with a foreign head of state since the Winter Olympics in February. Since then, China’s strict “zero-Covid” policy has prevented face-to-face exchanges with foreign heads of state – basically an untenable state of affairs for a global power like China. For Widodo, on the other hand, the visit is primarily about furthering his country’s economic development. Accordingly, the talks focused on trade and investment.
China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner. Despite national and international problems such as covid lockdowns and container congestion, bilateral trade increased by around 70 percent last year. China has also become the third-largest foreign investor in Indonesia – after Singapore and Hong Kong. “It is achieving very significant influence in the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration, notably through Indonesia’s most powerful minister, Lujut Panjaitan”, David Engel, Indonesia expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra, told China.Table. “Its companies are securing dominant positions in several sectors of importance to China, such as metal ore processing.”
Continue reading now
… and get free access to this Professional Briefing for a month.
Are you already a guest at the China.Table? Log in now