Indonesian President Joko Widodo arrived in Beijing on Monday for a two-day state visit to China, where he will hold a symbolically important meeting with President Xi Jinping.
This week’s talks will be the first in-person meeting between President Xi and a foreign leader since the Winter Olympic Games in February and the first time since the beginning of the pandemic two+ years ago that a visiting head of state has been received individually in Beijing.
Although the precise time and venue of the meeting have not been released, it’s widely expected to take place on Monday. Prime Minister Li Keqiang will also attend.
The visit could signal that China and President Xi himself are now ready to welcome foreign dignitaries back to Beijing. For much of the past two years, China has been largely closed to the outside world, with in-person diplomacy in the capital all but shut down. Instead, Foreign Minister Wang Yi set up a so-called “COVID Bubble” in the small eastern city of Tunxi, where high-level visitors flew in and out without having to quarantine.
The choice to invite President Widodo was likely due to his role as the current head of the G20. The Indonesian President has struggled to prevent the increasingly acrimonious great power rivalries between the Chinese, Russians, and the United States from overshadowing the G20 process.
President Widodo may use his time with the Chinese President to try and dial down some of the current tensions that erupted at the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bali earlier this month.
The two will also likely discuss a number of pressing bilateral issues related to trade, infrastructure and territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
What Will and Won’t Be on the Xi-Widodo Agenda
- WILL: Trade issues are likely to dominate the bilateral agenda. Indonesia is a massive resource supplier to China, particularly bauxite (ranked third after Guinea and Australia) and nickel — a strategic metal used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries.
- WON’T: Indonesia is the world’s largest Muslim country but on the issue of China’s treatment of its Muslim minority population in Xinjiang Jakarta has been noticeably silent over the years. There is no indication that President Widodo will raise the issue when he meets with President Xi.
- MAYBE: China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea have strained bilateral ties for years, and this Spring’s announcement that Jakarta wanted to turn its Nantuna island into a Special Economic Zone was not well received in Beijing. It’s unlikely this issue will come up in this week’s talks, but domestic political pressure on President Widodo could put it on the agenda.
SUGGESTED READING:
- Reuters: Indonesian president to visit China next week, will meet with Xi
- Global Times: Trade cooperation to top agenda during Indonesian president’s China visit by Zhang Changyue
