China, Indonesia hold meeting on security, defense

China’s foreign and defense ministers yesterday met their Indonesian counterparts in Jakarta for talks seeking greater political and military cooperation days after a joint navy drill Taiwan blasted as a “provocation.”

The talks marked “an important milestone in our bilateral relations,” Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sugiono, who goes by one name, said as he welcomed his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅).

“It serves as a forward-looking strategic platform, guiding our bilateral partnership across all five pillars — political, economic, maritime, people-to-people, and security,” he said.

Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi, left, and his Indonesian counterpart, Sugiono, shake hands during a news conference in Jakarta yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

Indonesia maintains a neutral foreign policy, what it calls “free and active” — walking a diplomatic tightrope between Beijing and Washington.

Jakarta and Beijing raised the ire of Taipei earlier this month with a joint navy drill off the nation’s east coast.

The two countries said it was a “passing exercise” with an Indonesian frigate passing through on its return home from the Russian port city of Vladivostok.

Taiwan called it a “military provocation” from the Chinese Communist Party.

Wang said it was crucial for Beijing and Jakarta to “increase strategic communication, to deepen strategic coordination” as important representatives of the Global South.

“Today’s world is fluid and turbulent,” he said. “We are seeing unilateralism and hegemonism. They have dealt a heavy blow to this world as well as to the global development agenda.”

The ministers headed the inaugural meeting of what is being called a “China-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Dialogue Mechanism.”

Its purpose is to boost “the alignment of development strategies,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) said ahead of Wang’s visit.

Wang was later joined by Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) in talks with Indonesian counterparts on “political security and defence cooperation and international and regional situations,” Beijing said.

Indonesian Minister of Defense Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said the countries would “cooperate in missiles, rockets and so on.”

“They [China] will help and they will transfer their technology so that we can build factories together in Indonesia,” he said.

The two countries would also hold another military exercise this year under Heping Garuda, a recurring joint drill focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and military-to-military cooperation, Sjafrie said.