In early September, Wu began to make arrangements for the president to visit Indonesia. After more than three months of negotiations and within hours of Chen's planned departure departure, the Presidential Office was forced to cancel the secretly arranged trip because the Indonesian media had gone public with its details.
Wu admitted that it is hard for him to accept the outcome but added that many officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidential Office must be feeling the same profound disappointment and be forced to endure the same criticism from the media and the public.
"But I truly believe this is the right direction," Wu said. "No matter who will be president and which party will take over the regime, they all need to follow the same route."
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