Foreign Minister Sugiono Submits Letter And Apology Of Prabowo Subianto To The Chinese Government

Foreign Minister Sugiono handed over President Prabowo Subianto's letter to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Tianjin Guest House, Tianjin city, China on Sunday (31/8) night. (ANTARA/Desca Lidya Natalia)

JAKARTA - Foreign Minister Sugiono submitted a letter from President Prabowo Subianto to the Chinese government represented by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

"I would like to apologize because President Prabowo Subianto cannot attend the SCO Summit and I also want to submit a letter from the President," Foreign Minister Sugiono told Foreign Minister Wang Yi at Tianjin Guest House, Tianjin city, China on Sunday (31/8) night.

The meeting came after Foreign Minister Sugiono attended a dinner held by President Xi Jinping for heads of state, heads of government, leaders of international organizations and foreign ministers ahead of the opening of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi then received the letter and then the two held a closed meeting. Participating in accompanying Foreign Minister Sugiono in the meeting were the Indonesian Ambassador to China and Mongolia Djauhari Oratmangun.

The presence of Foreign Minister Sugiono to replace President Prabowo Subianto, who was previously scheduled to attend the forum, but on Saturday (30/8) night, Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi announced that President Prabowo had postponed his visit to China because he wanted to continue to monitor the development of conditions in the country directly.

Prasetyo revealed that the President's decision was taken with full caution, and still upholds good relations with the Chinese government.

Earlier the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday (22/8) announced President Prabowo Subianto would attend the SCO summit in China along with 22 other country leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo

In addition, President Prabowo plans to also attend a military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of victory in China's People's War Against Japan's Aggression and Anti-Fascist World War on September 3, 2025, but the plan is also likely to be canceled.

China serves as president in collaboration with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) for the period 2024-2025.

SCO consists of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as the initial state. After that, India and Pakistan joined in 2017, Iran in 2023 and Belarus in 2024 bringing the total to 10 member states.

Apart from having 10 permanent members, SCO also has two monitoring countries, namely Mongolia and Afghanistan. There are also 14 dialogue partners, namely Sri Lanka, Turkey, Cambodia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, Armenia, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Myanmar, Maldives, and the United Arab Emirates.

However, at the 2025 SCO Summit in Tianjin, China also invited leaders of countries and governments that were not permanent members, monitoring and dialogue partners, namely from Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam.

The discourse is that President Xi will chair the "SCO Plus" meeting which will be attended by all heads of state and government, including from Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam.

This year's SCO theme is "SCO Sustainable Development Year". In its chairmanship, China wants SCO to continue a series of initiatives and collaborations in the Global Development Pre-Corruption proposed by President Xi Jinping, namely poverty alleviation, food security, public health, development financing, climate change and green development, industrialization, digital economy and connectivity.