Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) overseas trip took a U-turn yesterday as she secured entry into the Indonesian capital of Jakarta and met with congressmen in the evening after having met two Indonesian ministers in the Indonesian resort of Bali.
A close aide to the vice president said Lu's flight from Bali early yesterday afternoon, as well as her subsequent landing at a Jakarta air base, plus her meetings with congressmen in the evening had been arranged long ago.
Lu, who told reporters in Bali yesterday that she would be "gone with the wind" when asked to clarify her next stop, boarded a chartered plane early yesterday afternoon which later landed at a Jakarta air base.
The Indonesian media said that Lu entered Jakarta from the air base by car, accompanied by plainclothes presidential guard escorts.
"This indicates the preferential treatment [Indonesian officials have given her]," said Peter Cheng (鄭博久), director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affair's department of Asian and Pacific affairs.
Lu and her entourage checked in at the Darmawangsa Hotel in Jakarta, before meeting with Indonesian congressmen in the evening, a source in Jakarta told the Taipei Times.
Meanwhile, a senior Indonesian official said yesterday that two Indonesian ministers had also held talks with Lu on Thursday on the resort island of Bali.
Indonesian Labor Minister Jacob Nua Wea met with Lu on Thursday evening to discuss the status of the estimated 97,000 Indonesian workers in Taiwan, said the official, who declined to be named.
Environmental Minister Nabiel Makarim also met with Lu, the official said, explaining the two were friends during their studies at Harvard University.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda reiterated on Friday Indonesia's adherence to its "one China" policy and said no government officials would meet Lu.
Lu arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon where she was denied entry into the capital. She then flew to Bali in what officials called "vacation diplomacy."
Lu and other government officials had been tight-lipped about where Lu was headed after Bali, although Lu had said on Thursday that she might go to the Philippines' Subic Bay or Australia.
But a presidential office source told the Taipei Times that those remarks could have been an attempt by Lu to distract Beijing.
A Taiwanese businessman based in Subic Bay said he hadn't heard anything about Lu visiting the area.
"I have never heard that she was supposed to come to Subic Bay today," Hsing Sheng-tao (邢聲濤), secretary-general of the Taiwanese Businessmen Association in Subic Bay, told the Taipei Times.
Meanwhile, Agung Laksono, a youth minister during the administration of former Indonesian president Suharto, said Lu would head for Australia on Sunday.
But Australian officials said they had not yet received any request for a visa from Lu.
Laksono said he and some business executives had had a "friendly and private" visit with Lu after her Jakarta arrival, adding that some politicians would also see her during her stay.
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