TOKYO: Japan on
Wednesday called for stronger security ties with Southeast Asia as Tokyo
looks to boost alliances at a time of growing territorial tensions with
China.
Vice-minister level representatives from Japan and the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) began a two-day
gathering at a Tokyo hotel, with several participating nations
embroiled in sovereignty rows with Beijing.
"The Asia-Pacific
region has various issues concerning security and defence... including
territorial conflicts in the South China Sea," Vice Defence Minister
Akinori Eto told the opening session of the closed-door meeting.
"On
top of the growing maturity of our economic cooperation, Japan and
ASEAN need to further strengthen ties in the field of security and
defence," Eto said.
The meeting is the first high-ranking defence
dialogue of its kind since hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
took office late December following a landslide victory in general
elections.
"Our country changed governments late last year," Eto
said, "Under the new regime, we want to reinforce cooperation in
security and defence with ASEAN countries and contribute to peace in the
region," he added.
Ahead of the meeting, the ASEAN participants
met Abe late Tuesday and voiced their high expectations from Japan "in
dealing with various security issues of the Asia-Pacific region," the
defence ministry said in a statement.
Japan, along with several members of ASEAN have locked horns with China over separate territorial disputes.
Relations
between Beijing and Tokyo have deteriorated badly over the last year as
the two sides argued about the sovereignty of Tokyo-controlled islands
in the East China Sea.
On Tuesday, three Chinese government ships
spent several hours in the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off one of
the Senkaku islands, claimed by Beijing under the name Diaoyus. Taiwan
also claims them.
ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines,
Malaysia and Brunei, as well as China and Taiwan, have claims to parts
of the South China Sea, which contains some of the world's most
important shipping lanes and is believed to be rich in fossil fuels.
Simmering
tensions over the issue have risen in the past two years, with the
Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of becoming increasingly
aggressive.
China claims most of the sea, including waters close to the shores of its neighbours.
Relations
between the Philippines and China have become particularly tense since
patrol vessels from both countries engaged in a stand-off over the
Scarborough Shoal in April.
Analysts said China's recent prickliness meant regional alliances made sense.
"Japan
and ASEAN can regard security cooperation as a realistic option because
China is their common adversary," said Hideshi Takesada, a Japanese
defence expert and former professor at South Korea's Yonsei University.
"Practically,
Japan can provide defence technologies or equipment to ASEAN so that
Japan can win their trust," said Takesada, who is also former professor
at Japan's National Institute for Defence Studies.
Japan
reportedly plans to donate patrol boats worth more than US$10 million
each to the Philippines, ramping up regional efforts to monitor China's
maritime activity in disputed waters.
The Japanese government
plans to finance the deal in its fiscal 2013 budget starting in April
and hopes to officially sign it early next year, the Nikkei business
daily reported last month.
- AFP/fa/fl
=========
this is good news for countries that have no money for weapons and U.S. arms industry.