Bowing to strong overtures from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan has decided to sign a regional nonaggression treaty, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.
Deputy Foreign Minister Hitoshi Tanaka reportedly conveyed the decision to senior ASEAN officials in Tokyo for preparatory talks ahead of next month's Japan-ASEAN summit.
The ASEAN side welcomed the move, according to a Japanese government official.
"Japan deemed it beneficial to sign, as there were strong requests from ASEAN members" as well as China and South Korea, Fukuda told a regularly scheduled news conference.
The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, crafted in 1976, aims to solve regional disputes through peaceful means.
Although China and India put their names on the treaty during last month's ASEAN summit in Indonesia, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expressed reluctance to follow suit, saying Japan-ASEAN ties are already solid without Tokyo joining the pact.
The noncommittal stance prompted resentment from ASEAN, which sought another major power to become a signatory to maintain the balance of power within the region in the wake of China's participation.
Tokyo, for its part, was apparently concerned that given China's rising presence, Japan's political and economic influence in Southeast Asia would decline if the government failed to show its commitment to the region.
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