Japan, China Discuss Mekong Region Support

Beijing, Dec. 2 (Jiji Press)--Foreign ministry officials of Japan and China on Tuesday discussed cooperation for the economic development of five Southeast Asian countries located along the Mekong River. At a meeting in Beijing, the two sides agreed on the importance of the five Mekong countries working with international organizations to promote their development. Japan and China have been supporting the five nations--Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The meeting, the fifth of its kind, took place more than three years after the fourth session in September 2011. The long interval was due to strained relations between the two countries. The latest meeting came after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing last month and agreed to rebuild the two nations' mutually beneficial strategic partnership. It was the first bilateral summit between a Japanese prime minister and a Chinese president in about three years. At Tuesday's meeting, Japanese officials explained Tokyo's support for infrastructure development in the Mekong nations and for the 2015 launch of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Community. China introduced its "New Silk Road" vision proposed by Xi, which includes support for the Mekong region. The first Japan-China meeting on support for the Mekong nations took place in 2008. Since then, the two countries held such a meeting annually between 2009 and 2011. Japan and China agreed to hold the next session in Japan. A specific date for the sixth meeting will be fixed later. END