Japan pledged ¥500 billion (US$5.6 billion) in fresh aid to the Mekong region after concluding a summit yesterday aimed at catching up with China in strengthening its partnership with the Southeast Asian region.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said the meeting was partly in response to “changing international situations,” including China’s growing influence as well as the greater interest the US has expressed in the region. It was the first of its kind hosted by Japan.
“It is fantastic that Japan can build a relationship of trust in this new way,” Hatoyama said.
He told a press conference the Mekong region was a “priority area” for Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) as it seeks to boost development in the resource-rich area.
“We strongly recognized the need for further strengthening of the Mekong-Japan relationship and cooperation to maximize the potential of the Mekong region,” the statement said.
The leaders issued a “Tokyo declaration” that committed Japan’s ODA help for 63 projects in the region, including developing ports, airports and power lines, encouraging private sector investment and inviting 30,000 people, including youngsters, to visit Japan to promote exchange and understanding over the next three years.
Eighty percent of the package would be in low-interest yen loans, a government official said.
Japan and China have for years poured aid and investment into the region, home to more than 220 million people, and are seen increasingly as competitors for influence.
Hatoyama said it was “not fair to say China’s increasing involvement in the Mekong region is a disadvantage for Japan,” noting Tokyo and Beijing had begun to coordinate policies towards the region.
“It is very important to create mutual benefits by cooperating each other” for “win-win-win relations” among Japan, China and the Mekong nations, he said.
Much of the region along the lower reaches of the 4,800km-long Mekong River has historically been isolated by war and political turmoil and remains poorer than other parts of Southeast Asia.
Hatoyama, who has pushed the concept of an EU-style Asian community, has set his sights on boosting economic development and has vowed to expand aid, particularly to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
The leaders agreed on an action plan to promote development, protect the environment and fight climate change under the slogan “A decade towards the Green Mekong.”
They also demanded that Myanmar take steps towards democracy, calling for transparent elections next year.
They said they “expect that the government of Myanmar would take more positive steps in its democratization process.”
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