April 14, 2025 | 04:56 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto responded to the ongoing trade war between the United States and China. He emphasized that Indonesia does not side with any country.
"I hope that eventually both countries will reach an agreement. Indonesia does not take sides, and we are all friends, we respect all countries," said Prabowo in a press conference in Antalya, Turkiye, Saturday, April 12th, 2025, as seen from the President's Secretariat (Setpres) YouTube account.
He stated that the U.S. and China are close friends of Indonesia. He also expressed his plan to meet with President Donald Trump.
"We want to be a bridge between the two countries. It is not possible (to stop economic cooperation), China and Indonesia have a very close relationship," Prabowo said when reporters asked about severing diplomatic relations with China.
As is known, the relationship between the U.S. and China has worsened with retaliatory actions or tariffs of up to hundreds of percent. Most recently, Trump again increased import tariffs on goods from China to 145 percent on Friday, April 11th, 2025.
China has been told that Xi Jinping must call Trump to discuss reciprocal or retaliatory tariffs. However, Xi Jinping refused.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, Xi Jinping said China's development has relied on self-reliance and hard work for more than 70 years, not on others, and is not afraid of unfair oppression.
Two senior White House officials said the U.S. will not contact China first. Trump has instructed his team that China must take the initiative to contact him.
For the past two months, the U.S. has been asking China for Xi to reach out to Trump. However, the Chinese President rejected the request, as he did not want to appear "weak" by approaching the US for negotiations.
Instead of calling Trump, China diverted its products to the European market. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Li Jian at a daily press conference on Thursday, April 10th, 2025, said the right goal will gain support from many parties. He added that the U.S. will not be able to receive the people's support and will end in failure.
Previously, China also announced plans to impose additional tariffs on U.S. imports of up to 125 percent on Friday, April 11th, 2025. The new tariffs took effect on Saturday, April 12th, 2025.
The Tariff and Customs Duty Commission of the Chinese State Council said that if the U.S. imposes higher tariffs, it is not economically viable. They believe such actions will ultimately become a joke in economic history.
Dewi Rica Cahyani contributed to writing this article.
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