The call came during the first Track 2 dialogue between the two countries’ policy communities, where dozens of scholars and government representatives gathered in Yogyakarta this week for a two-day roundtable on the changing international order, regional peace and prosperity and the future of Jakarta-Beijing ties amid shifts in global governance.

Coled by Jakarta’s Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Beijing’s China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), the closed-door talks brought the two sides together to exchange views on shared challenges and to identify areas of common ground that could be elevated to policymakers in both countries.

Speaking to reporters after the talks, participants said Indonesia and China need to strengthen communication and mutual understanding as they navigate differences between two major developing economies before moving toward more technical cooperation in areas including energy transition, climate change, digitalization and AI governance.

CSIS Executive Director Yose Rizal Damuri said greater understanding could begin at the people-to-people level, including by increasing the number of Indonesian students studying in China while also extending to substantive issues such as perceptions of investment.

Read also: Indonesia and China: Toward a more honest conversation

“We do have a lot of converged interests, but we also have some diversions in looking at certain issues. An example is how we view investment in China, Indonesia or Southeast Asian countries,” Yose said. 

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