Japan seeks to counter China's expansion in Southeast Asia

Japan seeks to counter China's expansion in Southeast Asia

P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse, Nusa Dua, Bali

Japan wants to widen its largely business-oriented ties with
Southeast Asia to counter China's aggressive political, economic
and security forays but the region is playing hard to get.

At a summit meeting on Indonesia's Bali resort island this
week, China is set to sign three key pacts with the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including a "strategic" tie-
up accord that has raised the eyebrows of many analysts.

The ASEAN-China Declaration on Strategic Partnership, to be
signed by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and his counterparts from the
10 ASEAN member states, will elevate cooperation to "a higher and
more comprehensive dimension," an ASEAN official said.

"This is the first time ASEAN is calling an agreement with any
of its dialogue partners as strategic -- strategic in the sense
that it is all-encompassing cooperation," the official added.

Aside from the pact, China will sign documents acceding to the
ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation -- effectively a non-
aggression pact -- and endorse a protocol that will give several
Southeast Asian states early benefits under a free trade area to
be jointly developed by 2010.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi meanwhile has only
one agreement scheduled for signing with the ASEAN leaders -- the
Framework for Comprehensive Economic Partnership -- aimed at
strengthening linkages with a provision for a joint free trade
area sometime in the future, officials said.

To match the giant strides taken by China to improve ties with
Southeast Asia, Tokyo has proposed an ASEAN-Japan Charter to
upgrade relations befitting Japan's status as top investor and
importer in the region, officials said.

The charter would be a "basic political document with basic
principles of cooperation accompanied by precise actions
reflecting strong solidarity between ASEAN and Japan" said
Hitoshi Tanaka, a senior Japanese official attending the summit
talks.

But many ASEAN states have expressed caution over the proposed
agreement. Japan wants it signed when all 10 Southeast Asian
leaders travel to Tokyo for a summit with Koizumi in December to
commemorate the 30th anniversary of relations between the region
and the world's second biggest economy.

"Charter is a very exalted word," Philippine Foreign Secretary
Blas Ople said, citing the United Nations charter as an example.

"This is viewed with reservations on the part of ASEAN because
(having) a charter with Japan will give a right for other powers
to have their own charter with us," he said.

Ople said ASEAN was exploring "what Japan can offer us to
deserve the case for a charter."

With impending elections in Japan, analysts say Koizumi wants
to show his people that Tokyo is not lagging behind China in
relations with Southeast Asia, whose progress has been fueled
mostly by Japanese investment.

Makarim Wibisono, a senior Indonesian foreign ministry
official, indicated that at the Tokyo talks, ASEAN would prod
Japan further to open its market to goods from the region and
increase financial help to bridge the "development gap" between
ASEAN and Japan.

While it cannot be doubted that Southeast Asia had been riding
on Japan as its key market, China is slowly catching up as it
rapidly absorbs imports from the region.

"We couldn't have come so far without Japan but a new momentum
needs to be injected into our relationship and the ASEAN-Japan
commemorative summit in December will provide the window of
opportunity for doing precisely that," said Sundram Pushpanathan,
ASEAN's head of external relations.

He played down suggestions that ASEAN was trying to extract
more gains from Japan by using the China card, saying: "We are
not playing any games here.

"While ASEAN wants to enhance relations with China, it is also
working to enhance relations with key partners, like Japan, the
European Union and the United States. It is a win-win situation
for all sides."

Chinese vice foreign minister Wang Yi said Beijing was
stepping up relations with Southeast Asia because it trusted
ASEAN. "We are always supportive of ASEAN," he said.