Sudirman Haseng, the Foreign Ministry's acting director for East Asia and the Pacific, said Jakarta had anticipated the political shake-up in Japan - which for decades has been Indonesia's main source of loans and development grants - and was optimistic relations would continue to be healthy no matter what government emerged.

On Friday, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan will vote for a new president, who would then become prime minister, with the Cabinet to be effective Monday.

"Japan's parliamentary system allows for frequent changes of prime minister. We have anticipated this and adjusted well to changes," Sudirman said.

The resignation of prime minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday, after nine months in office, came as a shock, despite his growing unpopularity due to his failure to fulfill a campaign promise to relocate the US airbase of Futenma out of Okinawa.

Before his resignation announcement, Hatoyama hosted Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Monday and wrapped up the trilateral summit with China and South Korea at the weekend, ruling for tough sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear programs and the sinking of South Korea's navy vessel the Cheonan.

"We see those developments as a political dynamic in the Northeast Asia that could happen in any part of the world," said Sudirman.

Experts said the political instability in Japan would likely have some impact on Indonesia because Tokyo had been Indonesia's main economic and development partner for decades.

Indonesia is the third-largest recipient of Japan's Overseas Development Aid in Asia.

Japan ranked first for Indonesian exports in 2008 and was the third-largest investor in Indonesia last year. When Asia was hit by the financial crisis in 1997, Jakarta received loans totaling US$2.5 billion from Japan under the Miyazawa Initiative.

Japan and Indonesia have a 52-year-old diplomatic relationship and they have an economic partnership aimed at reducing tariffs for imports. With the current political instability in Japan, experts say Indonesia could move closer to China politically - and further away from Japan - as Beijing continues to expand its dominance in the region.

However, Sudirman said, Indonesia had seen growing relations with China because of similar interests to expand economic cooperation and not because of Japan's diminishing influence.

"Indonesia and also Asia have gotten used to the frequent changes of government in Japan over the last four years and I think the government has learned to adjust itself," said Tirta Nugraha Mursitama, a lecturer of international relations at the University of Indonesia.

He said concerns surrounding Hatoyama's resignation centered on the fact that the United States had managed to maintain its presence in Asia and that Japan had no choice but to continue to host its military presence despite domestic objection.

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