Indonesian president-elect vows to further strengthen ties with Japan after visiting China

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto said on a visit to Japan that he wants to “further strengthen” relations between the countries. He met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday on the heels of a visit to China. Subianto told Kishida that Indonesia and Japan are longtime friends who have built a cooperative relationship. Japan has been seeking stronger defense ties with Southeast Asian countries in the face of China’s increasingly assertive military actions in regional seas. China is Indonesia’s largest trading partner, with Beijing investing in major infrastructure projects, and Indonesia has maintained a relatively neutral stance amid rising tensions between China and the Philippines over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea.