A local expert in Southeast Asia studies said on Thursday that he expects the presumptive winner of Indonesia’s presidential election, Prabowo Subianto, to adopt a friendly stance towards China.

Prabowo, who’s currently the country’s defence minister, claimed victory after several independent pollsters' tallies showed him winning almost 60 percent of the votes in Wednesday’s election. Jakarta has until March 20 to announce the final tally.

Garnering more than half of the votes over his two rivals also means the former special forces commander would avoid a runoff.

If Prabowo is confirmed the winner, he will succeed incumbent Joko Widodo, who did not run because of term limits.

Professor Hui Yew-foong, who specialises in Southeast Asia studies at Shue Yan University’s Department of Sociology, said the initial election results are usually quite accurate.

“The quick count is reliable. There’s actually quite a large margin because he’s getting close to 60 percent of the votes, and that is more than what his predecessor, current president Jokowi (Joko Widodo), got in the last two elections,” Hui said.

He added that Prabowo’s strategy of naming Widodo’s son as his running mate gave his campaign a further boost.

“It means that the strategy to ride on both Jokowi’s popularity, and also his image of being a firm leader, has paid off for this election.”

The Shue Yan University expert said he expects Prabowo to be friendly with Beijing, and that there won't be significant changes to Indonesia’s foreign policy under his presidency.

“Prabowo has some ties with China during his time as defence minister, so I think he will be friendly towards China," he said.

“It will still be a non-aligned policy where Indonesia will seek to be a middle power in Southeast Asia… it will not really be aligned fully towards the US or China."