Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto congratulated by China’s Xi, US’ Blinken over victory amid election challenges

The congratulatory messages came as Prabowo’s two rivals said they would issue constitutional challenges over the result, citing allegations of irregularities and fraud

The incoming leader is unlikely to make any ‘drastic changes’ to Indonesia’s China policy, but may lean closer to the West on defence issues, analysts say

Reading Time:5 minutes

Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto won the February 14 poll with around 58.6 per cent of the vote. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 3:29pm, 21 Mar 2024Updated: 9:25am, 22 Mar 2024

World leaders from China to Malaysia and the United States have congratulated Prabowo Subianto after Indonesia’s election commission announced he had won the presidential poll, with Chinese President Xi Jinping hailing the two countries’ friendly ties and seeking the “construction of a community with a shared future”.

“I attach great importance to the development of China-Indonesia relations and look forward to working together with President-elect Prabowo to lead the construction of a community with a shared future between the two countries to achieve greater results, create an example of major developing countries sharing a common destiny, unite, cooperate and seek common development, and serve as a model for the two peoples, that will bring more benefits to our people and inject strong impetus into regional and global prosperity and stability,” Xi said in a statement given to Chinese state news agency Xinhua on Thursday.

The congratulatory messages from Xi and others came as Prabowo’s two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, said they would issue constitutional challenges over the result, citing allegations of irregularities and fraud.

Although analysts have been split over whether Prabowo will maintain outgoing President Joko Widodo’s economic cooperation with China – which has helped fuel much of Indonesia’s rapid infrastructure development over the last decade – or if he will adopt a more confrontational stance towards Beijing in line with some of his past nationalistic rhetoric, many believe he is likely to take the former route given his ambitious growth promises.

“I don’t foresee that there will be any drastic changes. China will still be one of the biggest investors in Indonesia,” said Yohanes Sulaiman, an international relations lecturer at the University of Achmad Yani in West Java.

“The only problem is if there is an escalation in the South China Sea, or when China does things that are considered offensive to Indonesian sovereignty. Prabowo is more nationalistic, he will be like [Philippine President Ferdinand] Marcos Jnr; his reaction will be very extreme,” he added.

In terms of defence collaboration, Sulaiman expected Prabowo to lean closer to the West than China, continuing the country’s partnership with the US and Europe that had been forged for decades.