Indonesia’s Prabowo scores ‘major diplomatic coup’ with China, Japan visits in signal of future policy direction

Kishida said the visit showed that Prabowo attached “great importance to Japan”, which is a “long-standing” friend of Indonesia.

“Prime Minister Kishida stated that Japan would contribute to Indonesia’s development through cooperation in such fields as infrastructure development and energy and support Indonesia’s efforts to proceed with the process of its accession to the OECD,” Japan’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement released on Wednesday.

“In response, President-elect Prabowo expressed his gratitude for Japan’s assistance to date and his hope to further enhance bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas including security, agriculture and fisheries as well as disaster prevention,” the statement said.

Prabowo visited China and Japan in his capacity as defence minister.

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Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing

An editorial in The Jakarta Post newspaper on Wednesday lauded Prabowo’s China and Japan trips as a “major diplomatic coup”, saying they were a “very positive step in laying the groundwork for the larger diplomatic arena that he will navigate once he takes office in October”.

Lina Alexandra, an international relations expert with the Centre of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Indonesia, said Prabowo’s trips this week were a “symbolic move” signalling his future foreign policy direction, one in which he could “interact with anyone”.

“Prabowo gave a signal that he wanted balanced relations with all countries. He wants to show his ‘good neighbour policy’, at a very early level,” she said.

“Prabowo’s campaign manifesto placed great emphasis on the modernisation of defence equipment. In the last five years, Prabowo has struggled to negotiate