WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Clinton comes to Indonesia on symbolic visit
(Reuters)
Updated: 2009-02-18 19:54

ASEAN, Trade Issues

Playing on Obama's Indonesian ties, about 50 schoolchildren from the US president's old school, waving US and Indonesian flags, rehearsed two traditional Indonesian folk songs to sing to Clinton when she arrives at an airport in the suburbs of Jakarta.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and junior school students wave to journalists upon her arrival at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta February 18, 2009. [Reuters]

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, seeking a second term this year, is keen to showcase Indonesia's stability since its transformation from an autocracy under former President Suharto, who was forced to resign in 1998, to a vibrant democracy.

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Clinton is due to meet Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda on Wednesday and President Yudhoyono on Thursday. She will also visit the Jakarta-based headquarters of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The United States is Indonesia's second-biggest export destination after Japan, but Jakarta is concerned over a slide in exports of commodities such as palm oil, rubber and nickel to developed economies, as well as curbs on textile and shoe exports.

Indonesia also wants a bigger role in world affairs, notably in the Middle East, given its core position in ASEAN, its population of 226 million, and its location straddling key trade routes.

J. Stapleton Roy, a former US ambassador to Indonesia, China and Singapore, said it was "unprecedented" for a new secretary of state to include Southeast Asia on an initial trip along with Japan, South Korea and China.

"It's a very positive sign ... it shows not only is the United States attaching priority to Asia, but it's attaching priority to Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia," Roy told a panel discussion in Jakarta this week.