U.S., Japan need stable Asia: Lee

U.S., Japan need stable Asia: Lee

BANGKOK (AP): Asia's elder statesman, Lee Kuan Yew, urged the United States and Japan to safeguard national security and economic interests yesterday by taking extra steps to help out faltering Asian economies.

Lee, Singapore's senior minister, said in a speech prepared for the Thai National Defense College that the economic crisis would not stay confined to Asia and that the costs to the United States and Japan would be high if they sat by and watched.

"The region has been hit by a typhoon no one anticipated," Lee said. "The U.S. must, in its own economic interest, extend its help beyond South Korea to include Thailand and Indonesia."

South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand have subscribed to a total of some US$120 million in bailouts organized by the International Monetary Fund since Thailand's currency devaluation last July triggered a regional financial and market meltdown.

Some Thais have criticized longtime ally Washington for initial indifference to the crisis until it started rocking American markets and threatened to cost U.S. jobs.

Lee said that the United States recognized that its long-term interests were linked to Southeast Asia and that regional stability was vital for the passage of U.S. ships and aircraft to the oil-rich Persian Gulf.

Lee also called on Japan, the largest foreign investor in Thailand and other Asian countries, to climb out of seven years of stagnation and get its economy back on track.

Lee urged Tokyo to take "decisive measures to resolve its banking problems by injecting public funds into the country's banking sector".

Reducing taxes and increasing public spending would stimulate the Japanese economy, Lee said.

In his three decades at the top of Singapore's politics, Lee created a model of state-directed development guided by a powerful bureaucracy that made the city-state one of the world's richest countries.

But Lee's claims that unique "Asian values" of strong leadership and limited democracy fueled the region's boom over the past decade have taken a knock recently as governments of all stripes have been unable to stem the crisis.