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.