2ND LD: Koizumi raps China, pledges aid in talks with ASEAN

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec. 13 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING INFO)

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi criticized China on Tuesday for refusing to hold bilateral summit talks and pledged about

$70 million in fresh aid to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in talks with his counterparts from the grouping.

Koizumi said in the meeting in Kuala Lumpur with ASEAN leaders he cannot understand why China refused to arrange a meeting between himself and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of ongoing regional summits or with President Hu Jintao last month in South Korea, a Japanese official said.

''No country is free from problems in bilateral relations,'' Koizumi was quoted as saying by the official, apparently referring to the strains caused by Koizumi's repeated visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

''If China refuses to hold a meeting due to a single problem...I cannot understand it,'' Koizumi added.

He made the remark in response to concerns over the discord between Japan and China expressed by host Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during the talks in Kuala Lumpur, Japanese and other Asian officials said.

Abdullah said in a statement released after the talks, ''We are concerned about the developing dichotomy in the Japan-China relations...We believe that it is important for both countries to manage their relations well.''

Following Koizumi's latest visit to Yasukuni Shrine on Oct. 17, Beijing also called off a trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea that had been held regularly since 1999 until last year on the sidelines of annual ASEAN-related summits.

The Japanese leader has also been unsuccessful in arranging a bilateral meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun, whose trip to Japan -- which had earlier been planned to take place by the end of this year -- is up in the air.

Koizumi has paid his respects at Yasukuni Shrine once a year since taking office in April 2001 amid sharp protests from China and South Korea which regard the shrine as symbolic of Japan's past militarism.

Koizumi said he visits the shrine not to glorify war but out of regret over Japan's wrongdoings in the war and to pledge never to wage war again, as well as to pay tribute to the war dead, according to Japanese officials.

Japan has engaged in postwar diplomacy and built close relations with ASEAN based on regret over its past, Koizumi was quoted as saying.

Koizumi and his 10 ASEAN counterparts met for the ninth annual ASEAN-Japan summit as part of a series of regional summits ASEAN is hosting in the Malaysian capital.

In their first-ever joint statement, they called for jump-starting stalled negotiations for a regional free trade agreement between Japan and ASEAN, reiterating the target of wrapping up the talks within two years from their launch this past April.

The two sides are expected to accelerate the talks that had hit a snag at one point, in parallel with bilateral FTA talks between Japan and major ASEAN members, the officials said.

Koizumi agreed Monday in separate meetings here with Vietnamese and Brunei leaders to start preliminary talks on concluding bilateral FTAs with each country.

Abdullah urged Japan to extend ''to all ASEAN members the opportunity to engage in a bilateral'' economic partnership agreement.

With the accords with Vietnam and Brunei to start preliminary talks, Japan's FTA-related partners extend to all but three of the least-developed members of ASEAN -- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- for which it has already opened its market under global trade rules, the officials said.

The Japanese and ASEAN leaders, meanwhile, declared in their statement, subtitled ''Deepening and Broadening of ASEAN-Japan Strategic Partnership,'' that ASEAN and Japan are now working closely together on an ''equal footing.''

By highlighting the maturity of its relationship with ASEAN from a donor-recipient one, Japan is apparently attempting to strengthen its ties with ASEAN as China appears to be trying to increase its influence in the region.

Koizumi also pledged 7.5 billion yen ($70 million) in fresh financial assistance to support ASEAN's effort to integrate into a single community.

Tokyo envisages that ASEAN will use the money to tackle terrorism, transnational crime, avian influenza and other challenges.

On East Asian cooperation, the leaders described the East Asian community as a long-term goal and reiterated their desire to cooperate under the ASEAN-plus-three process involving Japan, China and South Korea, and enhance dialogue through the East Asia Summit with ASEAN as ''the driving force.''

The inaugural East Asia Summit is scheduled to be held in the Malaysian capital on Wednesday with the participation of 13 countries in the ASEAN-plus-three framework as well as Australia, India and New Zealand.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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