Megawati's foreign tour<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri will shortly embark on a
\ndifficult mission. Namely, a visit to the People's Republic of
\nNorth Korea, where she will attempt to draw its leaders into the
\ncircle of other Asian nations outside the sphere of influence of
\nthe People's Republic of China, thus helping to create a more
\npeaceful situation in the region. The President is also to meet
\nwith Chinese leaders on her tour.<\/p>\n
But the main objective of Megawati's tour is to visit mainland
\nChina and talk about how to improve trade relations between the
\ntwo countries. Relations between Indonesia and China --
\ndiplomatic, economic, cultural and otherwise -- have perhaps
\nnever been as good as they are now.<\/p>\n
Following the fall of the first president of the Republic,
\nSukarno, in 1966, former president Soeharto declared the Republic
\nof China Indonesia's number one enemy for its supposed role in
\nsupporting the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in its attempted
\ncoup. All ties were severed with China as the military in
\nIndonesia took power.<\/p>\n
Following the fall of Soeharto in 1998, conditions gradually
\nbegan to return to normal and ambassadors were exchanged. At
\npresent, anti-Chinese, or rather anti-Communist, sentiments in
\nthe country have practically disappeared.<\/p>\n
Today there is a constant flow of Indonesian tourists to China
\nand Chinese tourists to Bali and other destinations in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Megawati is also to visit Taiwan on her tour, and it is known
\nthat investment from Taiwan to Indonesia is continuing to grow.<\/p>\n
Seoul is another capital city to be visited by Megawati, in a
\nbid to attract more investors to Indonesia. It is also striking
\nin this respect that the Indonesian mission will study the
\nsuccess of cooperatives and agricultural enterprises in China,
\nTaiwan, North and South Korea.<\/p>\n
Valuable as Megawati's visit to these Asian countries may be
\nin terms of restructuring Indonesia's economic development, and
\nat the same time practicing the foreign policy principle of
\nconstructive engagement with all countries of the world to
\ncontribute to world peace, the President should be warned not
\nto leave her country too long or too often. Domestically, she
\nstill has many urgent problems to deal with.<\/p>\n
GANDHI SUKARDI<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/megawatis-foreign-tour-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }