Hashimoto's Jakarta trip a qualified success

Hashimoto's Jakarta trip a qualified success

By Yvonne Chang

TOKYO (Reuters): Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto's weekend visit to Indonesia put Japan back in the forefront of efforts to solve Asia's economic crisis.

Although he carried no new aid to Jakarta and left without specific new assurances from President Soeharto, analysts said Hashimoto's trip went some way towards defusing criticism of Tokyo for not doing enough about the crisis.

Hashimoto said he was able to hold "candid" discussions with President Soeharto in a two-hour meeting on Sunday that was the first involving a G7 leader since Indonesia's economy went into a nosedive last year.

It is a point Hashimoto is likely to stress at an Asia-Europe summit next month and at a Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations' summit in May.

Takashi Shiraishi, a political science professor at Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies, said Hashimoto left Jakarta "with something to show".

Shiraishi said: "He had to go for two reasons. One is that Indonesia is diplomatically as well as strategically very important for Japan.

"The other reason is U.S. pressure for Japan to play a bigger role in the Asian crisis. It was important to show President Bill Clinton that Japan was doing something about Indonesia."

Hashimoto's visit also positions Japan, Indonesia's biggest creditor nation, to possibly act as a mediator if already strained relations between Soeharto and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deteriorate any further.

Hashimoto set himself up for the intermediary role with his comment to reporters at the end of the meeting that both Indonesia and the IMF needed to show "flexibility" in working out a bailout plan.

"Both Mr. Soeharto and I agreed it is important to promote reforms in Indonesia based on international rules...and by working together and in harmony with the international community," Hashimoto said.

Japanese officials expressed relief that Soeharto at least agreed with Hashimoto in principle on the need for reform in his nation.

Hashimoto's visit followed a similar mission earlier in March by former U.S. vice president Walter Mondale, who most analysts agree failed to move Soeharto on key questions of implementation of an IMF reform plan.

Bearing in mind the Mondale visit, Hashimoto took a gentler "Asian Way" approach, calling Japan Indonesia's "Asian friend" which was deeply concerned about the troubles of its neighbour.

Hashimoto said the meeting involved "emphasizing points we agree on rather than points on which we disagree".

Hashimoto avoided passing judgment on Soeharto's new cabinet, where the appointment of close associates and a daughter drew charges of cronyism and were taken as a sign of reluctance to implement drastic reforms.

"It's not for us to judge, it is for the Indonesian people to judge," Hashimoto said.

Kazuo Mishima at Tokyo's Center for Asian Research Institute, said Hashimoto's trip was unlikely to mean any major change in Indonesia's relations with the IMF.

"The result was basically within my expectations. Hashimoto was successful in that he was able to pull out comments about the IMF from Soeharto," Mishima said.

While only time will tell if his mission helped Indonesia and the IMF's cause, Hashimoto can at least claim, as he said: "At least we did not part with a grimace on our faces."