Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd left Canberra for his first visit to Japan as leader yesterday, playing down criticism that he had taken too long to travel to the major Asian power.
Rudd, who was elected to office in late November, flew out of the national capital shortly after 9am for the visit, a spokeswoman said.
Opposition politicians have accused the prime minister of snubbing Tokyo in favor of Beijing by skipping Japan during his first lengthy foreign trip which saw him visit the US, Europe and China in March and April.
Ahead of his flight, Rudd said the relationship with Japan was in “first-class working order.”
But the avowed Sinophile, who spent years living in Beijing as a diplomat and who speaks fluent Mandarin, said that good relations were needed with all Asian partners.
“Japan is a partnership which is anchored in our comprehensive engagement on strategic matters, security matters and economic matters,” he said. “It goes back a long time.”
“Also, we’ve got other partners within the region as well. China and Japan between them are our largest trading partners. They are huge and so it’s important to attend to all of these relationships,” he said.
Rudd said he wanted to take Canberra’s partnership with Japan “to the next stage” and would discuss increasing security cooperation with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
The issue of Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean — which Australia strongly opposes — will feature among talks, but Rudd said Canberra would seek to resolve the matter diplomatically rather than through international courts.
“We have clear principles when it comes to the proper protection of whales in the Southern Ocean. Japan has a different view,” Rudd said. “We’ll seek to resolve that diplomatically and let’s see how the diplomacy runs. But this is a disagreement among friends.”
Accelerating negotiations for a free-trade agreement are also expected to be on the table during Rudd’s meeting with Fukuda.
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