JAKARTA: Emmanuel Macron will seek to deepen trade and defence ties on a visit to Indonesia Wednesday, the second leg of a three-country Southeast Asia tour promoting France as a balancing power between the US and China.
“I’m really excited to meet again with my brother President Prabowo, a good friend of mine,“ he said after arriving Tuesday evening in the capital Jakarta, where he was greeted by the foreign and defence ministers.
On Thursday, he will travel to Yogyakarta on Indonesia's main island Java where he will visit the world's largest Buddhist temple before heading to Singapore to conclude his six-day tour.
He will also try to get the world's most populous Muslim-majority country on board as he pushes for a two-state solution for the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a United Nations conference in June.
“We understand perfectly well the sensitivities of the Muslim communities in the region” regarding the situation in Gaza, the adviser added.
'Power for peace'
This was viewed as a message both to Beijing, which has become increasingly assertive in its territorial claims in the South China Sea, and to Washington over Trump's threats of wide-ranging tariffs.
His remarks came as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) -- of which Indonesia is a member -- said at the bloc's summit in Malaysia it would speed up efforts to diversity trade networks in the face of Trump's tariffs.
The new chief executive of French mining giant Eramet, Paulo Castellari, will be part of a French delegation trying to get Jakarta to increase production at the world's largest nickel mine in eastern Indonesia.
While Jakarta has previously sourced fighter jets from Russia, in recent years it has acquired Rafales from French company Dassault Aviation, whose chief Eric Trappier will join the French delegation.
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