Japan wants stable U.S.-China ties: Maehara

Japan's Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara speaks during an interview with Reuters at the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo January 19, 2011. Japan is keen for the United States and China to have good, stable ties for the sake of world stability, Maehara said on Wednesday ahead of what may be the most important U.S.-China summit in decades.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan is keen for the United States and China to have good, stable ties for the sake of world stability, Japan's foreign minister said Wednesday ahead of what may be the most important U.S.-China summit in decades.

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in the United States on Tuesday for a four-day state visit in which trade tensions will feature prominently along with other thorny matters, from rebalancing the global economy to dealing with North Korea and the touchy issue of China's human rights practices.

"It is important that the world's No.1 economy and China, which is the world's second-biggest economy along with Japan, communicate and take on responsibilities in the international community," Seiji Maehara, sometimes tipped as a possible successor to struggling Prime Minister Naoto Kan, told Reuters.

"For these two countries to have stable and good relations will contribute to the stability and development of the world, so we want the two leaders to discuss issues of concern frankly and have a positive summit," he said in an interview.

Japan is wary of a rising China's clout and sometimes worries if Beijing and Washington appear to get too friendly, threatening to diminish Tokyo's role as America's key ally in Asia.

Maehara, 48, said Tokyo was especially keen for China to exert greater leadership in resolving the latest standoff with North Korea after a sharp spike in tensions on the Korean peninsula, and hoped that Washington would press Beijing to act.

Tensions between the two Koreas rose sharply last year after the South accused the North of sinking one of its warships and the North shelled a South Korean island.

Pyongyang also unveiled a uranium enrichment program, possibly opening a second route to making a nuclear bomb.

"In particular ... we want China to show greater leadership regarding North Korea, and for that, we have expectations for U.S. influence," Maehara said.

GAS FIELD DEAL

Maehara, known in the past as a hard-liner toward China, said Tokyo wanted to promote mutually beneficial ties with Beijing, in the economic sphere especially, after relations between Asia's two biggest economies were jolted by a territorial row last year.

But he added that Japan remained concerned about China's military buildup, and wanted to see an early agreement on the joint development of gas fields in disputed waters of the East China Sea. The two countries agreed in principle in 2008 to jointly develop the gas fields but progress on the deal has been slow.

"With regard to the development of gas fields in the East China Sea, despite the fact that there has been an agreement, progress is not being made so we want to reach an early agreement on joint development," Maehara said.

He said the United States and Japan were working to update common strategic objectives agreed on in 2005 to address a changing regional security environment, including possible missile attacks and terrorism.

"The environment surrounding the Asia-Pacific region has of course changed and it is very important to create common strategic objectives that fit (that environment)," he said.

Asked whether China's growing military strength was a factor, he said: "China is one of the main countries (in the Asia-Pacific region). We are paying close attention to the trend of China's military power."

Japan's ties with its closest security ally, Washington, were frayed last year by a feud over plans to relocate the Marines' Futenma airbase on the southern island of Okinawa and efforts by the ruling Democratic Party, which took power for the first time in 2009, to forge a more independent diplomatic stance.

But the rise in tensions on the Korean peninsula and China's growing military clout and naval reach have convinced Tokyo of the need to repair ties with Washington.

(Additional reporting by Shinji Kitamura; Editing by Michael Watson)