NEW YORK – Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama floated the idea of an east Asian community inspired by the European Union in his first meeting with Chinese president Hu Jintao late on Monday.
The summit, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, was Mr Hatoyama’s diplomatic debut, after his untested Democratic Party won a landslide election victory last month.
Japan’s relations with its Asian neighbours have often been fractious, partly because of its history of invading and occupying much of the region before and during the second World War.
“I spoke about the relationship based on fraternal feeling that I would like to build with China,” Mr Hatoyama told reporters after the meeting. “While recognising one another’s differences, we should overcome them and build a relationship of trust. That would be the focus of the east Asian community I want to build.”
Mr Hatoyama, who has said he wants to steer a more independent course from the US and build closer links with Asia, has long advocated an east Asian community with a single currency, while admitting this would take time.
Mr Hu told Mr Hatoyama bilateral ties with Japan were among China’s most important relationships and offered several suggestions to improve them, including arranging more frequent top-level meetings and business exchanges, China’s foreign ministry said.
“Now we face the prospect of higher level relationships, in a wider arena, and the development of important opportunities,” spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
The two leaders also touched on some of the problems that divide them, including a long-running dispute over gas resources under the sea that divides the two countries.
“He told me he wanted to proceed according to our agreement, but that he needed the support of the Chinese people,” Mr Hatoyama said, adding that he had urged Mr Hu to seek such support.
An agreement to co-operate on the gas fields was signed last year, but has yet to be implemented. – (Reuters)