Taiwan wins 'battle without sound of guns: VP Lu
Taiwan wins 'battle without sound of guns: VP Lu
Agencies, Taipei/Beijing
Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu on Sunday hailed her just completed trip to Indonesia, saying Taipei had upstaged Beijing in a fresh round of diplomatic battles.
Reports said she had offered to buy three million tons of liquefied natural gas from Indonesia for 400 billion Taiwan dollars (US$11.8 billion) over 25 years.
Just days before her visit, China had awarded a massive LNG contract to Australia rather than Indonesia, sparking uproar in Jakarta.
The reports said the gas would supply the Tatan thermo-powered generation plant in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan.
Australia, the United States, Brunei, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Qatar are also vying to supply the gas.
The reports said the offer was made during a meeting with seven vice chairs of former Indonesian ruling party Golkar.
At a press conference on Sunday, a day after returning to Taipei following the controversial four-day visit, Lu said her clandestine mission had caught Beijing off guard.
"The Chinese communist embassy officials were not aware of my visit until a domestic evening newspaper reported the story and I boarded the plane flying to Indonesia," a smiling Lu said.
She described the trip as "a battle without sound of guns." "The Chinese leaders ... even threatened to break off ties with Indonesia," said Lu, an outspoken critic of Beijing's poor human rights records.
Lu flew to Jakarta Wednesday but was forced to alter her itinerary and head straight to the resort island of Bali under pressure from Beijing.
She was finally allowed into Jakarta on Friday aboard a private plane.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda insisted the visit was purely for tourism and Lu had no plans for official talks amid Beijing's "solemn representations".
Jakarta does not recognize Taiwan which Beijing regards as part of its territory waiting to be reunified.
Lu played down the impromptu change of her schedule saying it was one of two prepared options. She did not say who she had talks with in Jakarta, but sources said she met two cabinet ministers.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan mocked Lu's attempt to break the island out of diplomatic isolation.
"Annette Lu's activities in Indonesia are an absolute farce," the official news agency Xinhua quoted Kong as saying.
"She runs into a brick wall wherever she goes," he said. "Facts show that Lu is persona non grata and there is no way Taiwan independence can succeed."
Beijing has threatened to attack if the self-ruled, democratic island of 23 million declares independence or drags its feet on reunification talks.
Indonesia tried its best to distance itself from Lu's trip after China raised the matter. But Indonesian sources said she met the labor and environment ministers.
Thousands of Indonesians work in Taiwan, but the island put a freeze on new contracts from August because of a high level of runaways -- an issue that was likely to have been raised at Lu's meeting with Indonesia' labor minister.