At their latest meeting in Kuala Lumpur, finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations voiced deep concern over a weak yen.
They wound up the meeting April 8 with a communique, voicing concern over the possibility that the yen's weakness against the dollar might have a negative impact on sustainable ASEAN region growth.
A Finance Ministry official then declared that Japan intends to keep the yen from falling further. His remark was met with skepticism, however, and as some observers noted, the comment was taken as an indication he was concerned only about the yen's excessively fast fall, instead of its adverse impact on Southeast Asian economies.