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LIMA: Prime Minister Taro Aso has asked Chinese President Hu Jintao to follow Japan's commitment to raise funds to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The two leaders held talks after dinner with their Asia-Pacific partners on the first day of their annual summit in Lima.
During the talks, Aso noted Japan's announcement of a plan to lend up to 100 billion dollars from its foreign exchange reserves to the IMF to help provide financial lifeline to crisis-hit emerging countries.
"We welcome participation by countries like your nation with ample foreign exchange reserves," Aso told Hu, according to a Japanese government official, who attended the meeting.
Hu replied that his country wants to make an effort to jointly reform the global financial system with Japan, but stopped short of accepting Aso's request, the official said.
At almost 980 billion dollars, Japan has the second largest foreign exchange reserves in the world after China, as a result of years of market intervention to keep the yen down against the dollar and help exporters stay competitive.
The IMF is expected to extend large loans to countries such as Iceland, Hungary and Ukraine to help them weather the current financial crisis.
During the talks, Aso said he hopes to increase communications between the two leaders, the official said.
Aso, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak will hold a three-way summit in the western Japanese city of Fukuoka on December 13.
It will be the first such summit to be held separately from multilateral international forums. The three countries have met previously on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Plus Three summit.
The meeting was scheduled for September but postponed following the sudden resignation of then-Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
The three countries are also members of a six-nation forum which is trying to persuade North Korea to scrap its nuclear programme in return for aid and diplomatic benefits.
Japan and China have been repairing relations since 2006 after a long freeze caused in part by friction of wartime memories.
- AFP/so
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