Red Cross receives Taiwan donation

MEDAN: The Taiwanese government donated to the Indonesian Red Cross on Friday nine tons of food and medicine to help tsunami victims.

The aid was symbolically handed over by David Lin, a representative official on economic affairs, to the deputy of North Sumatra's Red Cross branch, Adli Lidia, in Polonia, Medan.

David Lin said the donation had no political considerations but was based on solidarity. "This donation is for humanity because we also share the grief of the Indonesian people in Aceh and North Sumatra," he told journalists.

Earlier, there was controversy over the aid, which arrived on Thursday at Polonia Airport in Medan.

Director general of information, public diplomacy and international treaties at the foreign ministry, Mangasi Sihombing, had said the donation would not be accepted by the government because it does not recognize Taiwan as a separate nation from the People's Republic of China.

"We have good relations with China and don't want to jeopardize them by accepting Taiwan's donation. If they want to help, go ahead, but not directly to the Indonesian government but through the Indonesian Red Cross," he said. -- JP