Okada vows Japan 's support for Mekong, calls for democracy in Myanmar (2nd Lead)

SIEM REAP, Cambodia , Oct. 3 KYODO -- (EDS: UPDATING WITH MORE DETAILS) Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Saturday that Japan is preparing to boost economic assistance to countries in the Mekong region, which the country describes as a priority area for cooperation. ''We would like to make greater contributions than ever to the Mekong region,'' Okada said in a meeting with his counterparts from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, who urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs and swiftly return to the six-party denuclearization talks. Okada also pledged that the new Japanese administration led by the Democratic Party of Japan will actively engage in diplomacy with Asian countries with its ''long-term vision'' to create an ''East Asian community.'' Underlining its policy direction for the region, Japan also insisted that a paragraph on the need for democracy in junta-ruled Myanmar be included in the chairman's statement wrapping up the foreign ministers' meeting. Myanmar, whose draconian regime has long been a thorn in regional relations with other countries, had tried to have all reference to the country's political system and repression of dissidents such as democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi expunged from the chairman's summing up of the meeting, but sources close to the meeting told Kyodo News that Japan refused to participate in a whitewash. The sources said Myanmar made both written and verbal protests over mention of its political situation, claiming the ''primary objective'' of Mekong-Japan cooperation is to promote ''regional development, friendship and mutual understanding'' and the meeting is ''not a forum for political dialogue.'' But Japan , the sources said, allowed only a slight softening of the language in the chairman's statement, insisting that the meeting call for free and fair elections in Myanmar . The final statement says: ''On the situation in Myanmar , the ministers believed that the upcoming general elections in 2010 would be transparent, democratic and inclusive. The ministers welcome recent positive steps taken by the government of Myanmar in its democratization process, including the release of more than 7,000 prisoners.'' A mention of Suu Kyi, who has been in jail or under house arrest in Yangon for most of the past two decades, was left out of the final version, but Okada made clear in a joint press conference with other foreign ministers that her release is part of Japan 's vision for the region. Okada said he discussed issues related to Myanmar in the meeting with his Mekong counterparts and told them Japan would ''look forward to seeing free and fair elections,'' promised for next year, with the participation of all political parties and ''the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.'' The Mekong-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Siem Reap, home of the Angkor Wat temple complex in northwestern Cambodia , was also aimed at laying the groundwork for a summit meeting between the leaders of Japan and the five Mekong region countries, which they agreed Saturday to hold in Tokyo on Nov. 6-7. The Mekong countries reaffirmed their support for Japan 's pledge to aim for a 25 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 from 1990 levels and the country's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
KyodoOctober 03, 2009