Macron decorates Indonesia leader, announces cultural partnership

Observer

3 days ago

MAGELANG: French President Emmanuel Macron bestowed Indonesia's leader with France's top award on Thursday, before announcing a new cultural partnership with Jakarta on a visit to the world's largest Buddhist temple. Macron's trip to Indonesia is the second stop of a three-nation, six-day tour of Southeast Asia that began with Vietnam and concludes in Singapore.
After meeting for talks in the capital Jakarta, Macron and his counterpart Prabowo Subianto flew by helicopter on Thursday from Javan city Yogyakarta to a military academy in Magelang, a city in Central Java surrounded by mountains. The pair attended a military parade and Macron gave Prabowo the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France's highest military or civil award.
Macron rode in a jeep driven by Prabowo with the pair welcomed by a marching band and hundreds of students waving Indonesian flags. Macron then visited Borobudur, a Buddhist temple built in the 9th century that is the world's largest, where the pair announced they were boosting cultural ties. "In front of this temple, we are taking an important step by launching a new cultural partnership," said Macron. "The first pillar is heritage and museum cooperation. The second pillar is cultural and creative industries," he said.
Macron said the basis of the new partnership would be cinema and fashion, as well as video games, design and gastronomy. The French leader will now depart for Singapore where he will deliver the opening address on Friday at the Shangri-la Dialogue, Asia's premier security forum.
France and Indonesia called on Wednesday for progress on "mutual recognition" between Israel and the Palestinians at a key meeting next month as Emmanuel Macron visited Jakarta, bringing the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation into his diplomatic efforts. It came as Paris and Jakarta signed a series of cooperation agreements, with Macron seeking to deepen trade and defence ties with Southeast Asia's largest economy on a three-country tour promoting France as a balancing power between the United States and China.
Speaking next to his French counterpart, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto made a rare pledge to recognise Israel if it allowed for a Palestinian state. Indonesia has no formal ties with Israel and support for the Palestinian cause runs high there.
"Indonesia sees that the two-state solution and the freedom of Palestine is the only way to achieve the true peace," Prabowo told a news conference. "We must acknowledge and guarantee Israel's rights as a sovereign country that must be paid attention to and guaranteed safety. Indonesia has stated that once Israel recognises Palestine, Indonesia is ready to recognise Israel and open the diplomatic relationship."
Macron said Paris hopes to "trigger a movement of recognition for a Palestinian state under certain conditions", including the demilitarisation of Hamas and recognition of Israel's right to exist and protect itself. "This is the only way and your president this morning made a very important speech," he said of Prabowo's remarks.
The nations signed a series of memoranda of understanding on cooperation in a range of fields including defence, trade, agriculture, disaster management culture and transport.
The French president was later scheduled to meet investors and students, and attend a state dinner. In the face of US President Donald Trump's tariffs and Washington's economic confrontation with China, Macron was seeking to turn his "third way" position into contracts for French companies, particularly in defence, energy and critical minerals.
French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Indonesia signed a letter of intent for future purchases of more Rafale jets from French company Dassault Aviation, without specifying figures or a timeline. Indonesia also pledged to buy light frigates and Scorpene submarines, as well as Caesar howitzers and ammunition from French-German defence group KNDS, the minister wrote on X.
French mining giant Eramet also signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia's new sovereign wealth funds Danantara and the Indonesian Investment Authority "to explore the establishment of a strategic investment platform in the nickel sector", the mining firm said in a statement. In Vietnam on Tuesday, Macron presented France as a "power of peace and balance", committed to an international order "based on law".