The 73-year-old former general’s state visit will take place from Friday to Sunday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Beijing said the visit would aim to “push Sino-Indonesian relations… to a new level.”

“China is ready to work with Indonesia to use this visit as an opportunity to consolidate high-level mutual political trust,” the Foreign Ministry’s Mao Ning said at a regular news briefing.

Xi will hold a welcoming ceremony for the Indonesian leader and the two will hold talks, she said.

Prabowo will also meet Premier Li Qiang and official number three Zhao Leji, Mao added.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Roy Soemirat, confirmed this visit to AFP.

Prabowo was sworn in on October 20, pledging to stick to Jakarta’s traditionally non-aligned foreign policy while making the world’s fourth most populous country more active abroad.

Beijing and Jakarta are key economic allies, but the world’s largest archipelago is trying to block foreign vessels from fishing in its waters, saying it costs the economy billions of dollars a year.

Last month, Indonesia chased a Chinese coast guard vessel out of disputed waters in the South China Sea three times.

Chinese ships have occasionally entered areas claimed by Indonesia in the North Natuna Sea on the southern edge of the South China Sea, sparking protests from Jakarta.

China’s Foreign Ministry said last week that its coast guard was carrying out routine passages “in waters under Chinese jurisdiction” and that it was ready to cooperate with Indonesia to properly handle incidents.

China generally asserts that its coast guard operates legally and professionally to deter crimes in its waters.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claim to sovereignty had no basis in international law, a decision Beijing does not recognize.

While Beijing has often clashed with the Philippines in the South China Sea and had disputes with Vietnam and Malaysia, clashes with Indonesia have been rare.

The incidents are a first test for the newly inaugurated Prabowo, which has pledged to strengthen Indonesia’s territorial defense.

In 2020, Indonesia deployed fighter jets and warships to patrol the waters of the Natuna Islands during a conflict with Beijing after Chinese ships entered the region.

Prabowo will also travel to Peru and Brazil for the APEC and G20 summits in his first planned foreign visits, the Foreign Ministry said.

He is also expected to visit the United States and Britain, the Kompas newspaper reported last month, citing presidential palace sources.

After his February election victory, Prabowo used his eight-month transition period to visit more than a dozen countries, including China, to demonstrate a more active foreign policy than his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, which focused more on domestic issues like the economy.

Indonesia has long maintained a neutral foreign policy and refuses to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the US-China rivalry, but Prabowo has called for stronger ties with Moscow despite Western pressure on Jakarta.

Indonesia and Russia launched their first joint naval exercises on Monday.