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Australian PM’s Rival Wants Closer Ties With ‘Giant’ Indonesia

Labor leader said Indonesia would one day be a ‘superpower’
His party’s lead over Australia PM’s coalition narrows

Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Australia, on May 18. — Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Australia, on May 18.
Photographer: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

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May 18, 2022, 5:43 AM UTC

Australia’s Labor leader Anthony Albanese has picked Indonesia as one of his first diplomatic visits if he wins Saturday’s election and becomes prime minister, saying Canberra needs to build closer ties with the future “superpower.”

“Indonesia will grow to be an economy that’s substantial in the world, we live in a region whereby in the future we will have China, India and Indonesia as giants. We need to strengthen that economic partnership,” he said at the National Press Club in Canberra.