Taiwanese president to meet Sultan in Yogya
Tarko Sudiarno and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta
In what is likely to ruffle China's feathers again, Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian is scheduled to visit Indonesia next week and meet with Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.
Sultan confirmed on Thursday that Taiwan's president will arrive in Yogyakarta on Dec. 17 and hold a face-to-face meeting with him in his personal capacity.
"I will receive him in my home, and I will let the Taiwan business delegates meet their counterparts here to explore cooperation," Sultan said when receiving David Jay Green, a senior representative of the Asian Development Bank in Indonesia, in his office in Yogyakarta.
Chen will be joined by some 90 businesspeople from Taiwan, Sultan added.
However, the spokesman for the Taipei Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta, Derek Hsu, could not confirm nor deny the planned visit by Chen.
"I cannot confirm. I don't know... I am telling the truth," Derek told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The Indonesian government rejected on Friday a claim that Chen's planned visit "is being officially arranged".
"The government of Indonesia, having established no diplomatic relations with Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), does not expect any visit by any political figure from Chinese Taipei," said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jakarta.
However, it could not rule out that a "possible visit of individuals for tourist purposes can take place at any time as Indonesia never closes the possibilities for people-to-people contacts with Chinese Taipei".
The government is also aware that the so-called "vacation diplomacy" has been done by the authorities from Chinese Taipei, on other occasions and in other places, to advance their political and diplomatic agenda.
It recalls the previous attempt only a few months ago, in August, when inconveniences were caused by a visit from Vice President Annete Lu to Indonesia.
Jakarta stressed that it consistently adheres to its "One China Policy" and recognizes Taiwan as an integral part of China.
Further, Sultan admitted that the central government had prohibited ministers and other high-ranking officials including those in the regions from welcoming the Taiwanese president and his entourage.
The governor will defy that prohibition, despite a certain political risk he and the Indonesian government may face, saying he would talk to Chen personally.
"I understand the central government's policy if I welcome Taiwan's president. But under such a current situation, should we have to shun such delegates who want to invest in Yogyakarta," he added.
Taiwan and Indonesia seriously irritated the Chinese government when Vice President Lu came for her "vacation" in August.
Lu arrived at the resort island of Bali on Aug. 14 as a foreign tourist and reportedly met with Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, and later had a meeting with Golkar Party executives in Jakarta. Golkar is the second largest party in Indonesia after President Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).
China protested to Jakarta for allowing Lu to visit the country.