There are diplomatic meetings that transcend protocol, contracts, and official communiqués. The state visit to Paris on May 27 and 28 by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, leader of Southeast Asia’s leading economic power and head of the world’s fourth most populous country, probably belongs to that rare category where history, personal sensitivities, and national imaginaries quietly intersect behind geopolitical stakes.

Behind Indonesia’s head of state, behind the former general who became president of this immense strategic archipelago of 17,000 islands, there is also a deeply Francophile man. A leader who views France with sincere fascination, almost emotional in nature, nourished by long-standing family, cultural, and intellectual ties.

The Indonesian president’s family has maintained connections with France and continental Europe for many years. His father, Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, a major Indonesian economist and former minister, belonged to that Asian elite fascinated by European state models. Several members of the president’s family have studied, lived, or worked in France or divide their lives between Jakarta and Paris. This longstanding proximity has shaped Prabowo’s very particular vision of France, quite different from that held by many Asian leaders toward Western powers.

In a world where international relations are becoming increasingly transactional, where alliances are often measured solely by economic or military interests, this human dimension deserves attention. It says something about the unique place France still occupies in the imagination of certain global elites, a place sometimes underestimated by the French themselves.

For Prabowo Subianto, France is more than just another Western power. Not merely a commercial or military partner, but a civilization-state. A country of balance. A nation capable of combining power and culture, sovereignty and refinement, a strong state and intellectual influence. A non-aligned power in spirit, just like Indonesia.

It is therefore no coincidence that within certain Indonesian circles, particularly among military leadership, France still enjoys a unique image.

Could this be one reason for the cordial relationship between Emmanuel Macron and Prabowo Subianto?

For the past decade, Emmanuel Macron has sought to place the Indo-Pacific at the heart of French strategy. France is also an Asian power through its overseas territories, maritime presence, strategic culture, and balancing ambition in the face of Sino-American rivalry.

Within this vision, Indonesia becomes central.

The two heads of state meet in order to promote exchanges between their countries and establish a long-term strategic partnership.

Prabowo Subianto belongs to an Indonesian political tradition fascinated by states capable of speaking to the world without entirely disappearing behind Washington or Beijing.

Paris and Jakarta understand each other.

Michel Taube