Thu, 21 Sep 2000

Gus Dur meets Chinese party delegates

JAKARTA (JP): In an event which would have been almost unthinkable just a few years ago, President Abdurrahman Wahid met on Wednesday with visiting delegates from the Chinese Communist Party.

Speaking through an interpreter after the meeting at the Presidential Palace, head of the eight-member delegation Dai Bingguo said the visit was in response to an invitation by PKB leaders.

"The objective of our visit is to get acquainted with our Indonesian friends," Bingguo, who is chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee for International Affairs, told reporters.

"We want to understand changes that have taken place here in Indonesia," he added.

Bingguo further said that his party supported Indonesia's territorial integrity and that the country's political and economic stability were crucial to stability in the region.

He said that the Chinese Communist Party would never interfere in Indonesia's internal affairs.

The visit and meeting were another sign of the changing times.

The visit was also aimed at forging a closer relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) which Abdurrahman founded.

During the New Order era under former president Soeharto, the government adopted an extreme distaste for anything even remotely connected to communism, particularly those affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party.

Relations between Jakarta and Beijing were frozen in 1968 following allegations that China had supported the abortive coup by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in September 1965, which China denied.

Only some 20 years later were diplomatic ties normalized.

But the era of reform has ushered in a new objectivity with no less than the President himself suggesting that a past decree outlawing Communism be revoked.

Abdurrahman also made China the destination for his first official state visit.

An official within the Chinese Communist Party delegation said that the delegation would stay for about five days. A two-day visit to the resort island Bali is on their itinerary. (byg/prb)