RP welcomes Japan's security role

RP welcomes Japan's security role

Reuters, Tokyo

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, among the firmest supporters of the U.S. "war on terror" on Tuesday welcomed Japan's increased contribution to regional security.

Japan, whose military is a sensitive issue in Asia where Japanese forces invaded countries such as the Philippines, China and Korea during World War II, now provides logistical support for U.S. forces in Afghanistan thanks to a law passed last year.

"We welcome the new role, the increased role of Japan in assisting in promoting security in the region. This is no longer the world of the Second World War," Arroyo told journalists in Tokyo, where she was on an unofficial visit until Friday.

The Japanese government is now battling to pass three other bills that would boost homeland security, raising concern in some Asian nations once invaded by Japan.

"We believe that Japan, the U.S., China all play a major role in the security of our region," Arroyo said.

Arroyo said she believed international assistance, including military training and equipment from the United States, had enabled her government to gain the upper hand in its long battle against Moro rebels within the Philippines.

"Now they are stranded in a particular corner of the southwestern Philippines. They used to be in the thousands, now they are in the hundreds," she said.

On her second visit to Japan in eight months, Arroyo said she wanted to thank Japan for its official development assistance (ODA), which she saw as helping to weaken grass roots support for rebel Moro groups including the Abu Sayyaf.

"It is not a coincidence that the last stand of terrorism is in the island province which happens to be the poorest province in the country," Arroyo said.

Assistance with telecommunications and other technology to improve security are now high on the Philippines' wish list, she said.