Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto pledged to maintain close ties with China during a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing on Saturday, his first overseas stop since he took office three weeks ago.

Subianto is seeking to strengthen relations with China, Indonesia’s largest trading partner and one of its most important foreign investors. This is his second visit to Beijing this year, following a visit in April as president-elect, the first overseas trip he made after winning the Indonesian presidential election in February.

“Indonesia considers China not only as a great power but as a great civilization,” Subianto said at the meeting, adding that the two countries had had close relations for centuries. “Therefore, I think it is only natural that now in the present situation, geopolitical and geoeconomic, that Indonesia and China have become very close partners and in many, many fields.”