WASHINGTON – Indonesia and the United States are set to deepen their bilateral relationship across several fronts when US President Joe Biden hosts his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo at a bilateral meeting at the White House on Monday afternoon, senior administration officials told reporters on Sunday.

“We’ll be taking our partnership to a truly new level, announcing a comprehensive strategic partnership... in many ways to build upon our deep engagement in South-east Asia and the fact that we’re doing new and consequential things with many of that region’s leaders,” said one of the two officials who briefed the media.

In September, the US and Vietnam similarly upgraded relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, they noted.

Monday’s meeting should be seen as “part of a substantial set of efforts over the years to build stronger partnerships with allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific... in which we reaffirm common approaches to shared challenges and opportunities, and deeper commitment across the board on issues of mutual interest”, one of the officials said.

The officials revealed few details, but said Indonesia and the US were in the early stages of “a future pathway towards cooperation on critical minerals”.

Indonesia, which has abundant resources in critical minerals important for the energy transition, has faced hurdles to export to the US due to the latter’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by Congress in 2022. The Act gives preferential treatment to its free trade partners. Indonesia ranks first in global nickel reserves, second in tin, sixth in bauxite and seventh in copper.

Indonesia does not have a free trade agreement with the US. As a member of the newly formed Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF), which promotes inclusiveness, economic growth, fairness and competitiveness, among other things, Indonesia is lobbying the US to issue it a waiver status.

The IPEF was launched in May 2022 by the Biden administration, and the 14 member countries include Indonesia, Australia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan.

An Indonesian deputy minister told The Straits Times that the waiver status would benefit the US and Indonesia, as more Indonesian electric vehicle (EV) battery shipments to the US would help the latter achieve a target to double EV production.

Responding to a query from The Straits Times during her Jakarta visit on Aug 10, Ms Tammy Duckworth, a member of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the US will not accept an EV battery made by a Chinese company, even if it is produced in Indonesia. The majority of EV battery producers in Indonesia have a significant Chinese investor.

“IRA has buy-America and anti-China requirements... If the earth minerals are mined by a Chinese firm, they cannot qualify,” Ms Duckworth said.

The US officials who briefed the media in Washington said other areas of focus include diversification of semiconductor manufacturing in Indonesia, energy transitions, carbon capture and storage, supporting Indonesia’s electricity grid, improving air quality, and coast guard cooperation.

Substantial progress is being made towards growing the defence relationship, the officials said, citing expanded exercises, deeper training in areas like cyber-security cooperation, and combating weapons of mass destruction.

The US, “in the immediate term”, is looking at the expansion and extension of “everyday nuts and bolts” that make up the defence relationship, they said.

One official added: “The Indonesians are increasingly focused on their ability to project power, or to be able to understand and follow developments in their maritime periphery.” These include radar, patrol boats and more advanced aircraft, the officials said.

Substantial procurement decisions were looming, they added.

Additionally, Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service is set to announce its first satellite programme in Jakarta, which would facilitate degree programmes for both Americans and Indonesians. 

This would be the first American university that has a campus in Indonesia, which would serve as a people-to-people bridge and a way to “ensure that our policymakers in the future are increasingly aligned in their views”, one of the US officials said.

President Biden would also consult President Widodo on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, they said.

The two leaders will be meeting just ahead of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, where Mr Biden is also due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in what is seen as an attempt to stabilise a rocky relationship.

The South China Sea would certainly figure in the discussion with the Indonesian President, the officials said. In the past, there “perhaps had been some ambivalence” on the part of Indonesia over closer ties with the US, one official noted. But China’s more robust activities in parts of the South China Sea have certainly garnered attention in Jakarta.

“I think some of that ambivalence has faded as they’ve seen so many practical engagements of the United States with allies and partners,” the official said.

• Additional reporting by Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja in Jakarta