Indonesia’s new leader, Prabowo Subianto, is making a splash a mere two weeks into his presidency. On Monday, Indonesia and Russia conducted joint naval drills for the first time, underlining Prabowo’s desire to strengthen ties with Moscow while maintaining a ‘non-aligned’ foreign policy.
The drills will unfold over five days in Indonesia. And in a convenient display of Prabowo’s ‘independent’ positioning, Indonesia’s military is simultaneously teaming up this week with the Australian military for the countries’ largest joint activity “in recent history.”
'A thousand friends are too few’
In July, Prabowo, as president-elect, travelled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling Reuters afterwards: “We consider Russia as a great friend. I would like to continue to maintain and enhance this relationship.”
Last month, Jakarta expressed an interest in joining BRICS. But Prabowo is not expected to throw his support behind Putin anytime soon. Last month, he said, “Indonesia takes a path where a thousand friends are too few and one enemy is too many,” pledging to avoid conflicts or side-taking.
No smooth sailing for Ottawa
Prabowo’s Putin policy may be a bitter pill to swallow for Ottawa, which has been a vocal critic of Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
This summer, Canada and Indonesia took part in the massive ‘Super Garuda Shield’ military exercises, along with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and the U.S.
The principal focus in the Canada-Indonesia relationship right now, however, is trade: the 10th round of negotiations on a Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is taking place this week in Indonesia, with negotiators still aiming to conclude the deal by the end of 2024.
