Chinese leader Xi Jinping congratulates Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto on election victory

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday congratulated Prabowo Subianto on his victory in Indonesia’s presidential election, Beijing’s state news agency Xinhua said.

Prabowo and his vice-presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the eldest son of outgoing leader Joko Widodo, had already declared victory after unofficial counts showed them winning a majority in the February vote.

“China and Indonesia are traditionally friendly neighbours,” Xi said in a letter to Prabowo on Thursday, according to Xinhua.

“I attach great importance to the development of China-Indonesia relations and look forward to working together with President-elect Prabowo,” he wrote.

“Under joint efforts of both sides, the development of bilateral relations has entered the fast lane, political mutual trust has been increasingly consolidated, the alignment of development strategies has been deepened, and mutually beneficial cooperation has yielded fruitful results.”

China is one of the biggest sources of foreign direct investment in Indonesia.

Last year, Jakarta inaugurated Southeast Asia’s first high-speed rail, a multibillion-dollar project backed by Beijing.

Chinese companies have poured billions into natural resources in Indonesia in recent years, particularly in the nickel sector.

That spending has stoked unrest over pay and working conditions at several Chinese-funded nickel-processing plants, as Jakarta pushes to become a major player in the supply chain for electric vehicles.

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