Indonesia Edges Closer to Beijing, Signing a $10 Billion Trade Deal

Indonesia’s newly inaugurated President, Prabowo Subianto, is reinforcing the strong economic ties with China established by his predecessor, Joko Widodo. When Widodo ushered in an era of extensive trade and investment between his country and China, it was always clear that his hand-picked successor, Subianto, would follow the same path. During his first official visit to Beijing since taking office in October, Subianto secured $15.5 billion (US$10 billion) in trade and infrastructure agreements, signaling continued collaboration between the two nations. That was confirmed when he wound up a visit to Beijing before heading to the APEC summit in Peru. During his two-day visit, he was granted access to a number of high-ranking CCP officials, including CCP leader Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang, and Zhao Leji, the chairperson of the National People’s Congress....