Emmanuel Macron will seek to deepen trade and defense ties on a visit to Indonesia Wednesday, the second leg of a three-country Southeast Asia tour promoting France as a balancing power between the US and China.

The French president will be received by Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto before meeting investors and students in Southeast Asia's largest economy and attending a state dinner. 

"I'm really excited to meet again with my brother President Prabowo, a good friend of mine," he said after arriving Tuesday evening in the capital Jakarta, where he was greeted by the foreign and defense ministers. 

"The relationship with your country is a very strategic and friendly one," Macron said.

On Thursday, he will travel to Yogyakarta on Indonesia's main island Java where he will visit the world's largest Buddhist temple before heading to Singapore to conclude his six-day tour. 

In the face of Donald Trump's tariffs and the United States' economic confrontation with China, Macron will seek to turn his "third way" position into contracts for French companies, particularly in defense, energy and critical minerals.

He will also try to get the world's most populous Muslim-majority country on board as he pushes for a two-state solution for the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a United Nations conference in June.

"Naturally, the question of recognizing Israel is an issue," one of Macron's advisers told reporters before the tour.

"We understand perfectly well the sensitivities of the Muslim communities in the region" regarding the situation in Gaza, the adviser added.

Macron wants to show that he is "particularly committed" to "achieving peace in the Middle East" while demonstrating no double standards on the issue in light of his efforts to solve the Ukraine war, he said.

'Power for peace'

In Vietnam Tuesday, Macron presented France as a "power of peace and balance", committed to an international order "based on law."

This was viewed as a message both to Beijing, which has become increasingly assertive in its territorial claims in the South China Sea, and to Washington over Trump's threats of wide-ranging tariffs. 

Macron warned that Trump's "constantly creating uncertainty" with trade policy was "holding back investment and the economy."

His remarks came as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — of which Indonesia is a member — said at the bloc's summit in Malaysia it would speed up efforts to diversity trade networks in the face of Trump's tariffs.

So Macron's office will be looking for economic wins in the Southeast Asian archipelago of around 280 million people.

The new chief executive of French mining giant Eramet, Paulo Castellari, will be part of a French delegation trying to get Jakarta to increase production at the world's largest nickel mine in eastern Indonesia.

Paris also intends to step up cooperation on arms with Indonesia's Prabowo, a former defense minister and general.

While Jakarta has previously sourced fighter jets from Russia, in recent years it has acquired Rafales from French company Dassault Aviation, whose chief Eric Trappier will join the French delegation.

by Francesco Fontemaggi