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.