2ND LD: Kan airs concern over China's stance on Senkakus at regional summit+

HANOI, Oct. 30 Kyodo -
(EDS: ADDING INFO IN 5-6TH, UPDATING)
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 to 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.''
The U.S. participation in the 16-member EAS is seen by many as a move to
counter China's growing clout in the region.
Clinton said Washington has never taken a position on sovereignty over the
islands, but that the islets are subject to the Japan-U.S. security treaty and
the United States is obliged to protect them in the event of a foreign attack.
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 been 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 told his ASEAN peers in Hanoi on 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 called for the group's greater involvement
in the regional integration process, saying it has made important achievements
in five priority areas -- education, finance, energy, disaster management and
avian flu prevention -- since its establishment in 2005, delegates said.
The EAS leaders underscored the importance of education in promoting human
resource development, narrowing the development gap and boosting
competitiveness in the region, the delegates said.
The leaders also reaffirmed their support for denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula and encouraged the parties to return to the six-party talks in due
course.
The denuclearization talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States have stalled since the last session in December 2008.
The EAS comprises the 10 ASEAN members -- Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam -- plus
Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
==Kyodo
2010-10-30 21:19:37


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