Kan airs concern over China's stance on Senkakus at regional summit

HANOI, Oct. 30 (Kyodo) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan voiced concern at a regional summit Saturday
about China's stance on the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and the South
China Sea, a day after Beijing scuttled a planned meeting between Premier Wen
Jiabao and Kan in Hanoi as bilateral relations remained tense.
At the East Asia Summit in the Vietnamese capital, where 16 leaders welcomed
the entry of the United States and Russia as new members into the grouping from
next year, Kan ''called for a peaceful resolution in disputes in both the South
China Sea and the East China Sea,'' a diplomatic source said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who, along with Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov, attended the EAS as guests, said Washington is ''more
than willing to'' host a trilateral meeting with Japanese and Chinese foreign
ministers as part of efforts to defuse tension over the islands, administered
by Japan but claimed by China.
''We have certainly encouraged both Japan and China to seek a peaceful
resolution of any disagreements that they have in this area or others,''
Clinton told a post-summit news conference. ''It is in all of our interest''
that the two countries have ''stable and peaceful relations.''
Despite the cancellation of Friday's talks, Kan and Wen met briefly prior to
the start of the EAS, and agreed to create opportunities for a bilateral
summit, a Japanese government official said.
At the EAS, Clinton expressed concern about territorial disputes between China
and some Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea, urging Beijing to
ensure the freedom of navigation there, according to diplomatic sources.
Some Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries have grown concerned
about Beijing's increasing assertiveness in pressing its claims to sovereignty
over islands such as the Spratlys and Paracels in the South China Sea as well
as the Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu.
Clinton also urged Myanmar to hold general elections slated for Nov. 7 in a
free and fair manner, the sources said.
Australia and several other countries prodded the military junta to release
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, they said.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win said Wednesday that the junta will release
Suu Kyi from house arrest in mid-November unless she breaks the law.
The attendance of Clinton and Lavrov at the EAS paved the way for the two
countries' formal entry into the group at next year's summit in Indonesia.
Accounting for more than half the world's gross domestic product, an expanded
18-member EAS ''will be an engine of growth not only for our region but
definitely for the global community as a whole,'' ASEAN Secretary General Surin
Pitsuwan told journalists after the summit.
At Saturday's summit, the 16 leaders were believed to have called for the
group's greater involvement in the regional integration process, saying it has
made ''important progress and achievements'' in five priority areas --
education, finance, energy, disaster management and avian flu prevention --
since its establishment in 2005, according to a draft of a chairman's statement
to be issued after the meeting.
The leaders are likely to have expressed support for an ASEAN chair to take
part in Group of 20 summits and processes ''on a regular basis'' to share
ASEAN's insight and perspective, said the draft statement, a copy of which was
obtained by Kyodo News.
South Korea has invited Vietnam, which currently holds ASEAN chairmanship, to
attend a G-20 summit slated for Nov. 11-12 in Seoul.
The EAS leaders are thought to have underscored the importance of education in
promoting human resource development, narrowing the development gap and
boosting competitiveness in the region, according to the draft.
In this context, the leaders were believed to have welcomed a proposal to
convene a meeting of EAS education ministers next year and Japan's initiative
to build an ''East Asia Science & Innovation Area.''
The leaders are likely to have reaffirmed their support for ''complete and
verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula'' and ''encouraged the
parties to return to the six-party talks in due course,'' the draft said.
The denuclearization talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States have stalled since the last session in December 2008.
The leaders are thought to have called for increased regional cooperation on
energy, citing the need to ''address market barriers and promote more
transparent energy trade and investments'' and develop ''new and renewable
energy sources such as bio-fuels to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel,'' the draft said.