Taiwan's DPP wants ties with RI political parties

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) wants to establish party-to-party relations with Indonesia's political parties, a DPP leader said in Jakarta.

"We are neighbors of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Among them, Indonesia is an important country for Taiwan. We want to strengthen our relations with Indonesia, the biggest country in the region, in not only the economic field but also the political," DPP's acting director of international affairs Huai-hui Hsieh told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Huai-hui and 11 other party colleagues are in Indonesia to monitor the presidential election. Their four-day visit, which began on Sept. 15, was sponsored by the Taipei Economic and Trade Office and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation.

During their stay in Indonesia, Huai-hui said, the delegation had met with the camps of both presidential candidates: President Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and her rival, Susilo Bambang Yudhyono, from the Democratic Party.

"We congratulate the Indonesian people for adopting a democratic system and holding a peaceful presidential election," said Huai-hui, who is also the leader of the delegation.

Huai-hui's colleague Hsu Fang-yu echoed the words of her leader, saying that despite Indonesia's huge population, and multi-ethnic and multi-religious composition, the election process had been smoothly.

"Indonesia's election campaign was not even affected by the bomb blast outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta this month. Everything is orderly and peaceful," Hsu told the Post.

Huai-hui said the main aim of the visit was to observe the election campaign and see whether there was any possibility of change in Indonesia's foreign policy after the election.

"We have met the leaders of various political parties. We also witnessed the deliberations of the House foreign relations committee. The response from the political parties was quite interesting and we will follow up on this after the elections," Huai-hui said.

Thanks to Indonesia's "One China" policy, Jakarta and Taipei do not maintain diplomatic ties and Taiwanese interests here are handled by a trade representative.