Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama made his global debut on Monday with a message of reconciliation to China, asking Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to work together for an EU-style East Asian community.
Less than a week into office, Japan's new center-left leader flew to New York for the UN General Assembly. He plans to meet world leaders there and at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hatoyama, who advocates an easing of Japan's long prickly ties with its giant neighbor, told Hu he intended to push a vision of an East Asian community to unify the region, possibly under a single currency.
“I told [Hu] that I would like to form an East Asian community by overcoming differences,” including a dispute over exploitation rights for gas fields lying near islands the two countries claim in the East China Sea, Hatoyama told reporters.
Hu stopped short of agreeing to the proposal, but said he wanted to “make it a peaceful and friendly sea” by tackling sticking points, a Japanese government official said.
Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan ended more than half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule in a sweeping election victory last month.
While few expect East Asia to immediately overcome wartime memories and create an Asian Union, his tone marked an unmistakable sign from Japan's new leader that he wants to work with, rather than against, a rising China.
Hatoyama said he would follow a landmark statement of apology for Japan's wartime aggression which was issued in 1995 by then Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama — one of the few other left-leaning leaders in modern Japan.
“I highly praise your stance of sticking to the Murayama statement over the recognition of past history,” a Japanese official quoted Hu as telling Hatoyama.
Hatoyama has recently proposed building a new state memorial to serve as an alternative focus to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honors war dead but also 14 convicted war criminals and is often seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
Hatoyama also plans to meet South Korean President Lee Myung-bak in New York today ahead of a planned three-way summit of Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo next month.
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