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KOMPAS.com – Japanese Prime Minister (PM) Yoshihide Suga met with President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and the two agreed to continue cooperation in various fields, especially in health, security and economy.
Indonesia became the second country in Prime Minister Suga’s first overseas visit, which was inaugurated on September 16.
During the meeting on Tuesday (10/20/2020), one of the agreements reached by the two leaders was to accelerate the discussion on exports of weapons and military technology from Japan to Indonesia.
Some observers said Prime Minister Suga’s visit to Vietnam and Indonesia reflected a response to China’s dominance in the South China Sea by supporting Southeast Asia’s efforts to achieve peace in the region, while promoting the Indo concept. -Free and Open Pacific (FOIP).
“Regarding regional issues, including North Korea and the South China Sea, we agree that Japan and Indonesia will work closely together,” Prime Minister Suga said in a joint press conference with Jokowi after the meeting. .
Also read: Jokowi welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at Bogor Palace
“I fully support ASEAN in the Indo-Pacific, which was started by Indonesia, because it has many fundamental similarities with Japan in the Indo-Pacific, which is free and open,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jokowi welcomed him by expressing his hope that the South China Sea can remain a sea of peace and stability.
Before visiting Vietnam and Indonesia, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said Japan was trying to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific vision.
This includes ensuring the continuity of the rule of law, freedom of navigation and flight, and the peaceful resolution of disputes by building stable relationships with neighboring countries “that share the same values.”
“The diplomatic environment around Japan is becoming more difficult to predict and control given the growing tensions between the United States (US) and China,” Katsunobu said, as quoted in the report. The Japan Times.
Also read: President Jokowi will welcome the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
China sees Japan’s move as a threat
Several observers in China said Prime Minister Suga’s visit to Vietnam and Indonesia indicated that Japan was beginning to actively assist and ensure the Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China’s influence in the Southeast Asian region.
The Chinese Communist Party media, The Global TimesObservers reported that they were concerned that the agreement reached by Japan in Southeast Asia would threaten the stability of peace in the region.
Global weather He quoted Da Zhigang, director and researcher at the Institute for Northeast Asian Studies at the Heilongjiang Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, as saying that a military agreement would increase the difficulty of reaching a multilateral consensus on the South China Sea dispute.
Military cooperation between Japan and Vietnam, for example, has been going on for a long time. But, according to him, the move this time went “too far” and would affect relations between Japan and China.
Da argued that Japan can improve its relations with Southeast Asian countries through diplomatic ethics, but Japan cannot replace China’s position in ASEAN, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and economic conditions in the region.
Meanwhile, Kuni Miyake of the Canon Institute for Global Studies, who is also a special adviser to Prime Minister Suga’s cabinet, once wrote an opinion in the Japanese media that the prime minister spoke much more fluently about China without having to mention the name of the country, compared to the previous Shinzo Abe administration.
Also read: PM Suga: Southeast Asia is the key to seeking peace in the South China Sea
Japanese loans to Indonesia to fight coronavirus
During his visit to Indonesia, Prime Minister Suga offered Rs 6.95 trillion of assistance to Indonesia to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.
News agency reports Kyodo News He said the assistance was provided in the form of “low-interest loans” that could be used to deal with the economic impact of the pandemic.
Last May, Japan also provided assistance in the form of 12,200 Avigan tablets to Indonesia.
Avigan, mentioned in a statement from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is a drug brand developed by a Japanese pharmaceutical company, Fujifilm Toyama Chemical, to treat patients with influenza that also supposedly alleviate Covid-19 symptoms.
The Japanese government delivered tens of thousands of tablets to the Indonesian embassy in Tokyo and arrived in Jakarta on May 18.
Prime Minister Suga and President Jokowi also agreed to continue international trips targeting nurses and healthcare workers.
Also read: First trip abroad, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga visits Vietnam
