Taiwan's DPP wants ties with RI political parties

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.