Alatas denies inviting Taiwan's president to APEC

Alatas denies inviting Taiwan's president to APEC

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas yesterday
denied reports that Indonesia has invited Taiwanese President Lee
Teng-hui to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
Leaders Meeting scheduled for November.

"(The reports) are not at all based on facts," Alatas said in
a statement here yesterday.

He further added that Indonesia has not yet delivered any
invitations to the meeting due to be held on Nov. 15 in Bogor,
West Java.

"In reality the formal invitation has yet to be extended by
our side to Taiwan," Alatas said.

The foreign minister's remark came in response to a statement
reportedly made by Taiwan's presidential spokesperson, Raymond
Tai, that the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce office in Taipei had
recently extended an invitation to President Lee.

Indonesia currently presides over the 17-nation forum which
groups -- the United States, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, China,
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Australia and New
Zealand -- along with the six members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations -- Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia,
Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei.

China yesterday reacted strongly to Lee's probable inclusion
in the Bogor meeting as reported by AFP from Tokyo.
The reports also quoted Chinese President Jiang Zemin as
threatening to boycott the November summit if Lee attends.

There is no reason for the president of the People's Republic
of China, Jiang Zemin, to make such a statement, Alatas said.

He added that the APEC leaders' meeting in Bogor would emulate
last year's inaugural meeting on Blake Island, Seattle.

A no-show due to Chinese pressure, Lee was conspicuous by his
absence during the Blake island meeting and was only represented
by a lower ranking official.

Invitation

The foreign ministry's director of information Irawan Abidin
said that although Jakarta has not yet extended an invitation to
Taipei, the government would nevertheless invite Taiwan to the
meeting.

"Not only to the leaders' meeting but also the ministerial
summit before that," he told The Jakarta Post.

When queried further on when the invitation would be handed to
Taipei, Irawan replied, "in the very near future."

Indonesia and Taiwan maintain no diplomatic relations, as
Jakarta adopts a one China policy, acknowledging the Beijing
government as the sole representative of the Chinese people.

Despite the absence of diplomatic ties, Taiwan is Indonesia's
third largest foreign investor with over US$8.5 billion invested
here over the past 25 years.

Ties blossomed even further earlier this year with Lee's
'holiday' in Bali where he 'accidentally' met with President
Soeharto.

In the past month alone two separate Indonesian delegations,
one led by Minister of Investment/Chairman of the Investment
Planning Board Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo and the other by Aburizal
Bakrie, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, have visited Taipei and met with both President Lee and
Prime Minister Lien Chan. (mds)