Indonesia tells Clinton US must lead on climate change
(Recasts lead, adds presidential spokesman on meeting, Clinton on youth show)
By Muklis Ali
JAKARTA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urged U.S. leadership on climate change in a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday, as she visited to boost U.S. ties with Southeast Asia and the Muslim world.
She was due to travel to South Korea later in the day for talks on the North's military threat.
Clinton was greeted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono outside his office in the white colonial-style presidential palace in Jakarta before the two went in for talks.
They did not comment after the meeting, but a presidential spokesman said the talks included economic cooperation, Palestine and efforts to reach a new global agreement on climate change.
"The president underlined that a global consensus (on climate change) cannot be achieved without U.S. leadership," presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told a news conference.
In a pre-recorded TV interview on a local youth music show, Clinton confirmed she would attend a conference on rebuilding Gaza in Cairo on March 2 when asked about the new administration's efforts to improve ties with the Islamic world.
"One thing is that immediately upon being inaugurated and my taking office as secretary of state, President Obama and I said the United States will get re-engaged in trying to help in the Middle East," she said.
Preliminary estimates put the damage in Hamas-run Gaza after Israel's offensive, which killed 1,300 Palestinians, at nearly $2 billion.
Clinton's visit to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, highlights President Barack Obama's desire to forge a better U.S. relationship with the Muslim world, where many of the policies of former president George W. Bush's administration, including the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, were deeply unpopular.
Most Indonesians follow a moderate form of Islam, although there is a vocal fringe element of radicals and there have been a number of small protests by hardline Islamic groups and students opposing Clinton's trip.
Indonesia is also the site of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations headquarters, and has Southeast Asia's largest economy.
FINANCIAL CRISIS
Clinton's talks have also covered the financial crisis and Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said on Wednesday Jakarta had discussed the possibility of U.S. assistance in the form of a currency swap agreement and possible contingency funding to support Southeast Asia's top economy.
Indonesia already seeks to extend a $6 billion currency swap arrangement with Japan and has similar deals, each worth $3 billion, with China and South Korea.
Yudhoyono, seeking a second term this year, is keen to showcase Indonesia's stability since its transformation from an autocracy under former President Suharto -- who was forced to resign in 1998 -- to a vibrant democracy.
Clinton, like Bush Administration officials in the past, held up Indonesia as proof modernity and Islam can coexist as she visited the country where Obama spent four years as a boy.
During her appearance on the "Dahsyat" ("Awesome") music show, Clinton was greeted with claps when she said along with classical music she liked the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
She was due to visit a USAID sanitation project in Jakarta before flying to South Korea.
North Korea has repeatedly threatened in recent weeks to reduce the South to ashes and on Thursday said it was ready for war. ([nSEO183387])
Pyongyang is thought to be readying its longest-range missile for launch in what analysts say is a bid to grab the new U.S. administration's attention and pressure Seoul to ease up on its hard line. Clinton has said such a launch would not help relations.
After South Korea, Clinton will go to China, the last stop on an Asian tour that also included Japan. The trip is her first outside the United States since taking office. ([nHKG218352]) (Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammand, Sunanda Creagh, Olivia Rondonuwu and Telly Nathalia) (Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Jerry Norton)
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