Japan pledges fresh aid to Southeast Asia

Japan pledges fresh aid to Southeast Asia

Yuri Kageyama Associated Press/Kuala Lumpur

Japan pledged 7.5 billion yen (US$70 million) in aid to Southeast Asia on Tuesday to help regional integration through encouraging development and exchanges.

The fresh aid package was announced at a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during this week's regional summit.

It comes on top of the US$135 million in aid that Japan pledged a day earlier during the ASEAN summit to help the region fight bird flu and a possible outbreak of a pandemic influenza in Asia.

Japan has also promised to provide a stockpile of anti-flu medicine for a half-million people in Southeast Asia.

In Tuesday's joint statement, the leaders agreed to work together in building an economic partnership, including doing their utmost to agree on a free trade pact by April 2007. The talks have faltered, but both sides agreed to restart informal workshop talks.

Japan and ASEAN nations agreed to take up common challenges such as the threat of terrorism, bird flu, rising oil prices and natural disasters, including tsunami and earthquakes, the statement said.

"We welcomed the close cooperative partnership established over the last 32 years, which has contributed to the peace, stability, development and prosperity of the region," the statement said.

The specific uses for the fresh aid package are still being worked out, according to Japanese officials, but the nations will promote cultural projects and educational exchange.

They also agreed on working toward the long-term goal of an East Asian community, it said.

The partnership with Southeast Asia has been one positive note for Japan at this year's ASEAN and East Asia Summit, which has been marred by criticism from China and South Korea over Koizumi's visits to a war shrine.

Both Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun turned down one-on-one meetings with Koizumi.

China and South Korea say Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine show Japan's glorification of World War II. Yasukuni honors Japan's 2.5 million war dead, including those executed for war crimes. Koizumi says he is expressing Japan's commitment to peace and respect for the war dead.