President Joko Widodo says he wants to keep this sprawling archipelago out of an intensifying great-power conflict in the South China Sea while he tries to revitalize ambitious economic plans that so far have fallen short.
The leader of the world’s fourth most-populous nation, in office now for two years, told The Wall Street Journal that he wasn’t worried about the rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, which have raised fears of militarization in waterways vital for global trade.
“We are very close with [China’s] President Xi Jinping, we are also close with President [Barack] Obama,” Mr. Widodo said in an interview at his private home in this central Java city.
