Indonesia remains among Japan's most important partners
Indonesia remains among Japan's most important partners
JAKARTA (JP): The Japanese government continues to regard
Indonesia as one of its most important partners in Asia despite
its increasing attention for China, a senior Japanese diplomat
said here yesterday.
"Indonesia remains at the top of our foreign policy priorities
in spite of our strengthening and expanding relationships with
China," Koichiro Matsuura, a former deputy minister of foreign
affairs, reaffirmed yesterday.
When asked to comment on the surge of Japanese investments in
China in recent years, Matsuura added that Japan's Indonesian
policy would not change, no matter who became the new prime
minister to replace Morihiro Hosokawa.
More and more Japanese companies are diverting investments
away from Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, to
China. With Japan mired in their third consecutive year of
economic recession, businessmen in this region are worried that
Japan might have discovered a new favorite partner.
"One reflection of our policy is the fact that Indonesia and
China are the largest recipients of official development
assistance from Japan," Matsuura noted.
The Japanese government provides about 30 percent of the
nearly US$5 billion in assistance that the Indonesian government
receives annually from its creditors (Consultative Group on
Indonesia).
Matsuura added, however, that it is different with regard to
the private sector because businessmen will go anywhere that
offers the best business opportunities.
He argued, nonetheless, that despite the surge in Japanese
investments in China, Japanese businessmen are still and will
remain heavily involved in the Southeast Asian economy.
Hosokawa
Matsuura said that Prime Minister Hosokawa's recent
resignation would not affect Japan's relationships with Indonesia
because the resignation had nothing to do with Japan's foreign
policy but was caused by domestic problems.
Referring to Japan's foreign aid policy, Matsuura said the
implementation of its official development assistance (ODA) would
continue to be based on the principles which were adopted in
1992.
"We need to implement those principles, called the ODA
Charter, as our account of responsibility to the taxpayers
(people) who finance the ODA program," he said.
The principles are related to the adopting a policy of
environmental protection, avoidance of the use of aid for
military purposes, excessive production of weapons of mass
destruction, the development of democracy and market economy and
the protection of human rights.
The principles, he added, reflect the subjects of greatest
concern to the Japanese people.
"Therefore, we should address that concern in order to
maintain public support for our foreign aid program," he added.
"But we don't want to impose those principles as conditions to
our aid because the recipients of our assistance are sovereign
nations," Matsuura said.
According to him, there are many ways of implementing the ODA
Charter without giving the impression of pressuring aid
recipients to honor those principles.
The Indonesian government decided to stop accepting official
assistance from the Dutch government in 1992 after they imposed
an improvement in human rights as a condition to their aid. (vin)