时事资讯:鸠山由纪夫主张建立东亚共同体

【英文原文】

Hatoyama To Promote Idea Of Asia Bloc At Summit

When the leaders of Japan, China and South Korea meet for a trilateral summit in Beijing on Saturday, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will try to persuade his counterparts to share his vision that Asia needs its own economic bloc.

Since taking office last month, Mr. Hatoyama has repeatedly discussed his desire to create what he calls an East Asian Community, a regional alliance inspired by the European Union. The meeting will be the first major test of his plan, which faces obstacles that include regional rivalries and decades of mistrust following the Second World War.

The proposal is also a key part of Mr. Hatoyama's effort to recalibrate Japan's foreign policy after more than five decades of nearly uninterrupted rule by a party closely aligned with the U.S. Mr. Hatoyama's new ruling Democratic Party of Japan sees a regional alliance as a way to deepen ties with faster-growing neighbors as well as preserve its clout amid a weakening economy and a shrinking population.

Mr. Hatoyama is visiting Bejing Saturday to sit down with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. This is the first such meeting since the heads of the three East Asian powers met in December last year and agreed to meet regularly to strengthen cooperation. Japanese foreign-ministry officials say one of the main topics of Saturday's meeting will be North Korea, after Mr. Wen visited North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang last week.

Mr. Hatoyama will stop in Seoul on Friday to meet first with Mr. Lee. South Korean diplomats have welcomed Mr. Hatoyama's promise not to visit a Tokyo shrine honoring Japan's war dead, including more than 1,000 individuals classified as convicted war criminals from World War II. Mr. Lee has tried to tamp down some nationalist disputes with Japan since he took office last year, saying he thinks the two countries' relationship should be 'future-focused.'

China's reaction to the proposed alliance has been cool, according to Japanese officials speaking after Mr. Hatoyama met with Chinese Prime Minister Hu Jintao in New York last month. Still, Chinese state-controlled media has also responded positively to Mr. Hatoyama's vow not to visit the war shrine.

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said the group should include Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The group should initially focus on economic cooperation, he said.

The nations together accounted for 23% of the world's economic output last year, compared with 24% for the U.S. and 30% for the EU, according to Japanese foreign-ministry data.