[ad_1]
President Biden and President Joko Widodo of Indonesia will announce a new strategic partnership on Monday, although their differences over the war in Gaza are likely to shape the Indonesian leader’s visit to Washington.
Joko, whose country is home to the world’s largest Muslim population, arrives in Washington after attending a summit in Saudi Arabia where condemned the war in Gaza and blamed Israel for an attack on the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. US intelligence agencies say they are very confident that the explosion was caused by a Palestinian rocket. Mr. Joko is the first. leader of a Muslim-majority country to visit the White House since the war began.
A senior administration official who previewed the call to reporters Sunday night said Indonesia’s view on the war “is very important in how we think about our next steps” and that Biden would “listen carefully” to Joko during his meeting. White House spokesman John F. Kirby told reporters last week that the president would “make clear that the United States supports Israel.”
In recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have gathered on the streets of Jakarta to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Indonesia has no formal diplomatic ties with Israel, and Joko is under pressure from human rights groups to pressure Biden to ask Israel for a ceasefire.
Biden’s advisers hope diplomatic courtesy can withstand tensions over Gaza, and emphasized on Sunday that Joko would attend a meeting in the Oval Office before joining a larger group of officials in the Cabinet Room for tea. the afternoon. Solidifying a new strategic partnership with Indonesia bolsters the president’s efforts to bring Indo-Pacific countries closer to the United States as concerns grow about China’s aggression in the region.
Indonesia is important to the United States in part because of its large size. With around 280 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous country in the world. It has abundant resources (it is the world’s largest producer of nickel) and has a rapidly growing trillion-dollar economy. His policies on climate change and the environment affect the world, although critics have said his attempt to increase nickel production comes at the cost of producing greenhouse gas emissions.
(When Biden traveled to Indonesia for the Group of 20 summit a year ago, Joko took the president and reporters on a tour of a mangrove farm in Bali and touted its ability to clean the air and combat climate change.)
The country is also seen as pivotal in the geopolitical battle between Washington and Beijing. China has cultivated much closer ties with Indonesia under Joko’s government.
The announcement, which comes two days before Biden meets with President Xi Jinping of China at a highly choreographed summit in San Francisco, puts the United States in the same diplomatic position as Beijing, which announced a comprehensive relationship with Jakarta in 2013. Biden and his advisers see the new pact as evidence that concerns about China have made the region’s leaders more interested than before in partnering with the United States.
Joko likes to say that he remains independent of the influence of either country. But he has shown a special affinity for Xi and has traveled to China five times during his tenure. China was the second largest investor in Indonesia, after Singapore, in 2022.
In September, Chinese Premier Li Qiang pledged $21.7 billion in new Chinese investments in Indonesia to strengthen the countries’ economic and political ties. Joko, whose term ends next year, sees infrastructure as a distinctive legacy and has turned to China to help him achieve his goals.
But Joko also knows that Indonesia needs to find protection. Chinese investments in the country have generated discontent and he also knows that Indonesia needs to diversify foreign investment. High on his agenda would be reaching a deal with the United States on the supply of critical minerals used to make car batteries.
Indonesia wants to generate more demand for its nickel by making it eligible for US tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. Companies would then be more interested in building foundries and electric vehicle factories in Indonesia, creating jobs for Indonesians.
The country wants a type of preferential access similar to that granted earlier this year to Japan, either through a stand-alone agreement or as part of a limited free trade agreement. But some U.S. officials have expressed concern about Indonesia’s troubled environmental and human rights record, especially when it comes to nickel mining. Any deal is likely to face opposition in Congress.
In Washington, Biden and Joko were expected to discuss a plan for a deal on critical minerals and semiconductors, and discuss climate issues including carbon capture and storage, the electric grid and air quality.
The two were also scheduled to discuss security cooperation, including cybersecurity, and a new initiative for a satellite program at Georgetown University, the first American university to open a campus in Indonesia.
Peter Panadero contributed reports.