Islamabad, 26 July 2022 (TDI): The President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, arrived in Bejing. He came on a two-day visit at the invitation of China. China is the first stop of the Indonesian president in his three-nation visit to East Asia.
This is the first visit of any head of state to China after the Winter Olympics.
Greeted President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana upon their arrival in Bejing (25/07)
The first stop in President Jokowi’s 3-leg visit to East Asia pic.twitter.com/Npfe8T9uF1
— Menteri Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia (@Menlu_RI) July 25, 2022
President Jokowi, along with the first lady, landed on Monday. The Foreign Minister of Indonesia, Retno Marsudi, was already there in Bejing.
She tweeted that the Indonesian President will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang separately on Tuesday.
In Beijing for final preparations for President Jokowi’s arrival tonight (25/07)
President @Jokowi will have meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang separately tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/veabFNCNCk
— Menteri Luar Negeri Republik Indonesia (@Menlu_RI) July 25, 2022
Jokowi has turned to China to strengthen his national economy. He adopted a strategy that focused on getting maximum foreign investment. Along with this, he focused on increasing internal connections across Indonesia’s landscape.
Economic Relationship with China
In addition, the foreign minister also underlined that the focus of Jokowi’s East Asian tour would be trade and investment. She said, “As we know, these three countries are Indonesia’s strategic partners in the economic field. And these three countries are also strategic partners of Indonesia and ASEAN when discussing regional issues.”
“The focus of the visit is to discuss strengthening economic cooperation, particularly in the areas of trade and investment,” she added.
China has been Indonesia’s top trading partner for the past nine years. In 2021, the trade volume between the two countries surged by 58.6 percent. It increased from the previous year to more than $124 billion. Thus, Indonesia has been ranked second regarding high Chinese Investment in ASEAN countries.
Moreover, Indonesia is also going to host the G20 Summit in November. Therefore, another purpose of this visit is to promote Indonesia’s presidency of the G-20 economic organization.
After completing his first leg of the tour, the Indonesian president will leave for Japan. In Japan, he will meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday. Jokowi will end his regional trip on 28 July by meeting the leaders of South Korea.
