ASEAN foreign ministers welcome Obuchi's election

ASEAN foreign ministers welcome Obuchi's election

MANILA (AP): Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations welcomed Keizo Obuchi's election as head of Japan's
ruling party yesterday, expressing confidence he could bail Japan
out of its economic troubles.

Most said his links with the trading bloc, gained through
years as Japan's foreign minister, will enable Japan to better
help financially-ravaged Southeast Asian countries.

"We hope this contact he had with us will provide the kind of
leadership we would expect from Japan," said Malaysian Foreign
Minister Abdullah Badawi. "We hope that they will play a more
active role and they would be able to help us."

Obuchi, 61, was elected president of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party yesterday, a position that virtually guarantees
he will be chosen as Japan's next prime minister because of the
party's majority in Japan's lower house of parliament.

Although Japan is burdened with its own economic woes, Badawi
said Japan's role remains crucial in helping Asian economies
recover from the region's continuing financial crisis.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said he expects no
basic changes in the policies of Obuchi, who comes from the same
party as his predecessor, Ryutaro Hashimoto.

The foreign ministers began an annual meeting yesterday
expected to be dominated by discussions on how to extricate the
region from the crisis.

Prior to his election, Obuchi himself was invited to a post-
ministerial meeting next week with the ASEAN ministers
representing Japan, one of the group's 10 dialogue partners.

Reports from Tokyo said yesterday that Obuchi will visit
Manila tomorrow to meet foreign ministers from major Asian and
Western nations.

Obuchi is expected to be elected prime minister next week by
Japan's Parliament.

ASEAN countries, whose economies are strongly integrated to
that of Japan, have in the past urged Tokyo to hasten reforms of
its financial system.

"It has been a common expectation that Japan would put its
economic house in more effective order so that it could revive
its own economy and could be able to pull along other economies,
which during the past few years have been very closely integrated
with the Japanese economy," said Thai Foreign Minister Surin
Pitsuwan.

"I do believe the new administration in Japan understands that
expectation and will respond to that expectation favorably," he
said.

In a statement, Philippine President Joseph Estrada
congratulated Obuchi, saying he hoped Japan, under the new
leader, would take a more active role in ASEAN's affairs.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.