Asian leaders arrive in U.S. to nurture ties with Bush govt

Asian leaders arrive in U.S. to nurture ties with Bush govt

WASHINGTON (AFP): Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori have arrived in the United States ahead of separate talks with President George W. Bush later in the week.

Mori's plane landed at Andrews Air Force Base just before 4:00 pm on Sunday (4 a.m. Jakarta time on Monday), a day before he is scheduled to visit Bush.

In comments to reporters while en route to the United States, Mori said the talks would cover the faltering Japanese economy, security ties between Japan and the United States.

"I believe it is extremely important that Japan and the United States confirm economic policies at the top leaders' level at this point in time," Kyodo News quoted Mori as saying on a government flight to Washington.

Also figuring high on the agenda was last month's sinking of a Japanese trawler by a US nuclear submarine. "I would like to confirm the United States' sincere attitude in the investigation into the accident's cause, efforts to salvage the ship and issues of compensation for the victims' families," Mori said, according to Jiji Press.

Mounting uncertainty over Mori's lameduck premiership and political fallout from a disaster at sea off Hawaii that saw a US nuclear submarine slam and sink a Japanese fishing trawler will cloud the meeting planned as a bid by Bush to reinvigorate US ties with Japan.

The meeting also comes amid concerns Japan's slumbering economy may be about to slip back into crisis, just as the United States experiences its own slowdown -- an issue likely to be high on the agenda at the talks.

"It is in our interest that Japan be economically strong and prosperous," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan on Friday.

Mindful of the anger in Japan over the submarine disaster, which killed nine Japanese, U.S. officials are going out of their way to accommodate Mori, despite what appears to be his limited political life back home.

Mori's visit comes as a navy inquiry into the tragedy winds down. Japanese embassy officials said here Friday he would stop in Hawaii on the way home to meet relatives of the dead and to lay a wreath.

Qian arrived in New York for a series of talks with U.S. officials to culminate with a meeting with Bush on Thursday. A foreign policy veteran, Qian is hoping to size up Bush's new administration, which only weeks after taking power has shown every sign of living up to a campaign pledge to take a firm stance towards Beijing.

"The purpose here is to start the dialogue," said a senior administration official, admitting the "complicated" nature of Sino-U.S. relations.

Looming over the talks are policy clashes about Taiwan, human rights and Beijing's staunch opposition to Bush's plans to develop a missile defense shield, fueling a view here the two giant states are on a collision course.

Those differences have been aired in a very public dialogue between the two sides, veering from stinging Chinese attacks on U.S. Taiwan policy to conciliatory remarks by Premier Zhu Rongji last week.

On Friday, Bush announced he would accept an invitation to visit Beijing following the Asia-Pacific Cooperation forum summit in Shanghai in October.