Japan backs U.S. strong dollar policy, Fujii tells Geithner+

TOKYO, Nov. 11 Kyodo -
Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii told visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy
Geithner on Tuesday that Japan supports a strong dollar policy by the United
States, Fujii said.

''I told him this policy is correct,'' Fujii told reporters shortly after their
two-hour dinner meeting in Tokyo, referring to Washington's long-held stance on
the dollar.
Fujii said Geithner ''nodded'' after Fujii voiced support for the stance,
adding the two discussed currency issues in general, most of which centered on
past history, and did not address issues related to China's yuan.
Fujii said he talked about Japan's economic history especially in connection
with the fixed-exchange-rate system that had kept the rate per dollar to 360
yen from 1949 to 1971.
He told Geithner that Japan's dramatic postwar economic growth largely
benefited from the fixed-exchanged-rate system.
Fujii told reporters he thinks ''China is now in that kind of period.''
The 77-year-old minister said international cooperation and the Japanese
economy cannot be viable if Tokyo and Washington do not have good ties, noting
that Tokyo's $1 trillion foreign reserves are largely dollar-denominated.
Fujii repeated several times that he gets along very well with Geithner and
about half of their time during the meeting they talked about baseball and
other non-economic issues.
Geithner welcomed the new Japanese government's economic policies focused on
boosting domestic demand, according to Fujii.
The meeting between Fujii and Geithner -- making his first visit to Japan since
taking the Treasury chief post in January -- came ahead of U.S. President
Barack Obama's upcoming talks with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama in
Tokyo on Friday night.
Fujii said the two also agreed that Tokyo and Washington should continue to
work closely to narrow global trade and savings imbalances.
Their meeting was held at a time when the government led by the Democratic
Party of Japan is struggling to raise money for its key economic measures aimed
at moving away from an export-driven model of growth that is relying heavily on
U.S. consumption.
The meeting at a posh traditional Japanese restaurant was also attended by U.S.
Ambassador to Japan John Roos and other Japanese Cabinet members, including
Senior Vice Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
Geithner is scheduled to meet separately with Hatoyama and Deputy Prime
Minister Naoto Kan on Wednesday.
After his two-day visit, the 48-year-old Geithner will travel to Singapore to
attend a meeting of finance ministers of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation forum in Singapore on Thursday.
Fujii, meanwhile, will be absent from the regional meeting, giving priority to
parliamentary deliberations at home.
APEC's 21 member economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United
States and Vietnam.
==Kyodo
2009-11-11 00:56:54