Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin both plan to attend a G20 summit on the resort island of Bali later this year, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said.

“Xi Jinping will come. President Putin also told me he will come,” Jokowi, as the president is known, said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg News editor John Micklethwait. It was the first time the leader of the world’s fourth most populous nation has confirmed that they both plan to stand for the November summit.

The dollar rose against Asia-Pacific currencies on Friday after the report was released as geopolitical tensions boosted demand for the US currency as a safe haven.

Xi and Putin’s attendance at the meeting would trigger a confrontation with US President Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders, all of whom are expected to meet in person for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. The attack, which came shortly after Putin and Xi declared a “limitless” partnership, left the G-20 divided on whether to impose sanctions on Russia.

On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin declined to confirm travel plans for Xi, who has not been overseas since the start of the pandemic. “We are ready to intensify coordination and cooperation with Indonesia to ensure the full success of the summit,” he said at a press briefing in Beijing.

Putin and Jokowi discussed preparations for the G-20 summit in Bali in a phone call on Thursday, the Kremlin said in a statement that did not mention whether the Russian leader will attend. Putin’s presence could also bring him face to face with Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time since Russia’s invasion, as the Ukrainian president is also expected to be in Bali.

Biden had called for Russia to be removed from the G-20 after its invasion of Ukraine, and US officials had previously pressured Indonesia to kick Putin out of the Bali summit.

Tensions are also skyrocketing between the United States and China, even as Biden and Xi leave open the possibility of holding their first face-to-face on the sidelines of the Bali summit. China halted talks with the United States on defense and a range of other areas after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, while the White House criticized Beijing’s military exercises around the ‘island.

“The rivalry of big countries is indeed worrying,” Jokowi, 61, said in the interview. “What we want is for this region to be stable, peaceful, so that we can build economic growth. And I’m not just thinking of Indonesia: Asian countries also want the same thing.”

As the current host of the G-20, Indonesia has sought to balance great-power ties while resisting pressure to exclude Russia from meetings. Following Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said the world “needs wisdom and responsibility to maintain peace and stability”, while emphasizing that it respects the one-China policy as expressed by other Southeast Asian countries.

Jokowi dismissed concerns that US-China tensions over Taiwan could spill over into the South China Sea, where Indonesia has territorial claims, saying nations should instead focus on managing food crises, energy and the pandemic. Southeast Asian countries wanted wealthier countries to help provide funds for the transition to renewable energy and investments to develop their economies, he added.

In the five years to 2022, US investment in Indonesia was less than a quarter of the combined $40 billion invested by China and Hong Kong. commodity processing plants.

While Russia represents only a small amount of investment, Indonesian state-owned energy company Pertamina has a joint venture with Rosneft to build a $13.5 billion refinery.

Indonesia seeks trade and investment that spur economic growth and improve the lives of the country’s 275 million people, Jokowi said, adding that she was not looking to join any particular bloc.

“Indonesia wants to be friends with everyone,” he said. “We don’t have problems with any country. Every country will have its own approach. Every leader has their own approach. But what Indonesia needs is investment, technology that will change our society.”

___

Bloomberg’s Yudith Ho, Rieka Rahadiana, Norman Harsono, Soraya Permatasari, Grace Sihombing, Harry Suhartono, Colum Murphy and James Mayger contributed to this report.