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HUA HIN, Thailand : Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama pressed plans for a new East Asian community at a summit on Saturday, saying that the region should aspire to lead the world.
Hatoyama has a long-term vision for a European Union-style alliance including Japan, China, South Korea, the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), India, Australia, and New Zealand.
The leaders of all those countries are currently in the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin for a regional summit where discussions on growing integration across the region are expected to dominate.
"It would be meaningful for us to have the aspiration that East Asia is going to lead the world and with the various countries with different regimes cooperating with each other towards that perspective," Hatoyama, who took office last month, told the Bangkok Post newspaper.
"I am not saying that an East Asia Community is something that can be realised overnight," he said in the interview, conducted in Tokyo ahead of the talks.
He described Japan's alliance with the US as "the fundamental cornerstone" of its foreign policy, but said: "At the same time Japan is an Asian country and we need to further strengthen our relationship and trust with Asia".
He said the region should work together to "try to reduce as much as possible the gaps, the disparities that exist amongst the Asian countries".
He stated China would "doubtless" grow further, particularly economically. "But I do not necessarily regard that as a threat," he added.
While a common currency would have "significant meaning", he said it was important the countries first advance economic initiatives and co-operate on education, disaster management and climate change.
Hatoyama later told ASEAN leaders at the summit that he was looking for co-operation that is "open, transparent and inclusive", Japanese delegation spokesman Kazuo Kodama said after the morning meeting.
The Japanese premier suggested regional co-operation should include areas such as trade, investment, and maritime affairs, and he stressed the importance of the United States' "continued involvement" with East Asia, Kodama said.
"It is too premature to discuss the membership of this long-term envisioned community," the spokesman added. - AFP/ms
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