Japan's new premier pitches East Asia union

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-23 09:19

An East Asian community of nations - akin to the economically powerful European Union - was floated by Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, but the idea was dismissed by Chinese political experts who said it cannot be realized in the near future and poses too many difficulties.

Japan's new premier pitches East Asia union

"I cannot see any possible and concrete path to this idea now," said Huo Jiangang, an expert on Japan at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, to China Daily yesterday.

On his diplomatic debut in New York late Monday, Hatoyama made the proposal in his first meeting with President Hu Jintao.

A longtime goal

Hatoyama has long advocated an East Asian community with a single currency, though he admitted this would take time to bring about.

"I spoke about the relationship based on the fraternal feelings that I would like to build with China," Hatoyama told reporters after the meeting.

"While recognizing one another's differences, we should overcome them and build a relationship of trust," he added. "That would be the focus of the East Asian community I want to build."

The leader of the left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan, which won a landslide election victory last month, has advocated the idea of a "fraternity" and said he wants to steer a more independent course from the United States and build closer links with Asia.

But Huo said that many experts do not believe in this very Hatoyama-like policy, "though his idea accords with the interests of all East Asian countries."

Huo listed the Korean Peninsular nuclear issue, free-trade agreements and unified currency among numerous difficulties before such a community is initiated.

"It is also hard for China and Japan to trust each other due to different value systems and fierce competition," he added.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said yesterday that China hopes every East Asian country can work more cooperatively and progress toward the goal of a union of nations that resembles an East Asian community.

Hu: Greater prospects

During the summit, Hu noted that China-Japan relations are among each country's most important bilateral ties.

He said cooperation and exchanges between China and Japan have reached unprecedented levels in a variety of fields since the two countries normalized relations 37 years ago, Xinhua reported.

"I wish and believe that during the tenure of Prime Minister Hatoyama, China-Japan relations will show a new state of more active growth and usher in greater prospects," Hu said during the meeting at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.