Japan celebrates 30 years with ASEAN at Tokyo Summit
Japan celebrates 30 years with ASEAN at Tokyo Summit
Kornelius Purba, The Jakarta Post, Tokyo
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will open a two-day summit with 10 Southeast Asian leaders on Thursday, marking Japan's three decades of ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) here.
The summit at Akasaka Palace is expected to support Koizumi's idea for the establishment of the East Asian Community, an Asian version of the European Union.
Koizumi first broached the idea when he visited several ASEAN member countries last year.
However, a Japanese foreign ministry official denied that China's increasing economic and political influence in Asia was behind the East Asian Community.
"Japan-ASEAN relations will remain very strong," stressed deputy secretary-general Shinichi Nishimiya of the ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs bureau.
He said Japan and ASEAN would form the core of the East Asian Community, but did not name other potential members.
He pointed out that China, along with South Korea -- the other dialog partners of ASEAN -- would also be members of the community. He did not rule out the possibility that Australia and New Zealand might join the regional group.
He said the idea to set up the community followed ASEAN's determination to establish an ASEAN community by 2020 under the Bali Concord II.
Nishimiya said leaders would not discuss the time frame for the East Asian Community during the summit, saying that it was more important to agree on its founding principles.
The summit comes amid controversy over the deployment of Japanese national defense troops to Iraq and concerns over North Korea's nuclear threat.
Japan's cabinet approved a plan on Tuesday to send troops to Iraq, the most dangerous foreign mission the country is undertaking since World War II.
Separately, Naoki Ito, director of the second Southeast Asia division of the foreign ministry, said ASEAN had become the fourth closest partner to Japan after the United States, China and the European Union. Japan was ASEAN's largest trading partner and largest source of investment, while the region had received the greatest amount of Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Japan is expected to sign the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) at the summit, two months after China and India signed the TAC during the annual ASEAN Summit in Bali.
Koizumi will cochair the summit with President Megawati Soekarnoputri in her capacity as ASEAN chairwoman. It will be the first meeting of 10 ASEAN leaders to be held in a non-member country.
Japanese government officials acknowledged that the Iraq issue was a top national security concern following the recent death of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq, as was the North Korea issue.
However, they said the two-day Japan-ASEAN Summit would not be affected by these issues because the focus of the summit was economic and political cooperation with ASEAN.
"Both issues (Iraq and North Korea) are burning issues of importance to Japan, but our relationship with ASEAN is also very vital to our national interest," Koji Tsuruoka, deputy secretary- general for foreign policy at the foreign ministry, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
During the summit, Koizumi will hold separate meetings with Thailand Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and newly installed Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
The three countries are undergoing intensive negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Japan, for which Thailand and the Philippines specifically proposed the inclusion of exporting skilled migrant workers to Japan.
After closing the summit, Megawati and Koizumi are to jointly address a press conference at the Akasaka Prince Hotel.
Megawati, who will arrive on Wednesday morning, will meet Koizumi for half an hour of bilateral talks. The FTA issue will not be specifically discussed during the meeting.
Japanese officials said that "the Indonesian government itself is still not seriously handling the FTA issue".
The Japanese media pays little attention to the summit compared with their inquisitive and detailed reports about the planned deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq.
The Asahi Shimbun's Tuesday morning edition printed an interview with Megawati, and NHK state television also broadcast a similar program.
Megawati will depart from Tokyo "after shopping at Ginza", said an Indonesian official. She will go to Shanghai for an overnight stay for "a personal visit"
From Shanghai, she will fly to Pakistan for a four-day state visit.