Japan's foreign minister will miss a regional security conference being held this week in Vientiane, although a lower ranking official will attend in his place, officials said yesterday.
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura left Japan on Sunday for three days of talks in London with Western leaders on Tokyo's bid to gain a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
The Japanese delegation in Laos will instead be headed by Ichiro Aisawa, a senior vice minister for foreign affairs, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also is not attending the six-day ministers conference through Friday of 10 ASEAN countries and 14 partners, including the US, EU, Russia, Japan, China and India.
Laotian Deputy Foreign Minister Bounkeut Sangsomsak said the absence of Rice and Machimura wasn't expected to significantly detract from the conclave, the region's most important security forum.
"I think we can understand that because they have some commitments with other countries," Bounkeut said.
But the absence of top representation for two of the world's biggest economic powers offers both China and India an opportunity to further enhance their rising influence in the region.
It is the first time since 1982 that the top US diplomat has missed the annual ASEAN ministerial meeting.
Rice's absence was officially explained as a result of a scheduling conflict. Many in the region, however, view it as a US snub of ASEAN for its failure to force Myanmar's military junta to hand over power to a civilian government and to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The US and EU have threatened to boycott ASEAN meetings if Myanmar becomes the bloc's chairman as scheduled next year, and Southeast Asian nations fear it could endanger trade ties with the West.
It was unclear why Machimura chose to skip the meetings in Vientiane.
"I guess we have to take this as a reflection of Japan's priorities," said the spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Marty Natalegawa.
"We continue to believe this is the premier forum for regional interaction," Natalegawa said.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
They are joined in the security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum by Australia, Canada, China, the EU, India, Japan, Mongolia, New Zealand, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russia, South Korea and the US.
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