FOCUS-China reminds new Japan PM on economic role
08:37 a.m. Jul 30, 1998 Eastern
By Paul Eckert
BEIJING, July 30 (Reuters) - China welcomed the election on Thursday of
Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi as state media issued firm
reminders of the high regional stakes resting on Japanese economic
policy.
''As a friendly neighbour of Japan, China sincerely anticipates Prime
Minister Obuchi and the new Japanese cabinet (will) make positive
contributions to the prosperity and stability of Japan,'' said Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Tang Guoqiang.
China's state media, however, spared the newly minted Tokyo government
diplomatic niceties, echoing sentiments heard across beleaguered Asia
and in world financial markets.
''Japan's continued economic stagnation will not only make the Asian
economic flu a harder cold to cure, but it is also likely to trigger
further crisis across the region,'' said an editorial carried by the
official China Daily.
''As a leading economic power, Japan is capable of making and should
make its contribution to the Asian economic recovery,'' said the
commentary.
As Japan's foreign minister moved into the prime minister's hot seat,
China's central bank chief also issued a reminder of the duties that
come with the world's toughest job at the moment.
Japan has an ''obligation and responsibility to maintain financial and
economic stability in Asia,'' central bank governor Dai Xianglong was
quoted by the Financial News daily as saying at a meeting of the
Communist Party on Wednesday.
The newspaper, which is published by the central bank, quoted Dai as
saying the yen's recent decline has ''increased the pressure on economic
restructuring of some countries and regions in East Asia.''
It also has had ''a certain impact on China's exports and use of foreign
capital,'' Dai said.
The remarks were uncharacteristically blunt coming from a central banker
-- especially one from a government which quickly scolds criticism from
outsiders as ''interference'' in China's internal affairs.
But Dai underscored Beijing's sense of alarm at policy drift in Japan,
which takes in 17 percent of China's exports and accounts for 10 percent
of its foreign direct investment.
As Asia struggles to get back on its feet, China faces slowing exports
and lower-than-expected economic growth, which threaten to undermine the
pace of vital economic reforms.
On Wednesday, China's leading think tank and newspaper issued sharply
worded complaints that Japan had not lived up to its responsibilities to
its neighbours torn by financial crisis.
The senior Asia expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)
said that while the region sought help from the world's second largest
economy, ''Japan not only is not helping out, it is adding to the
turmoil.''
''We hope that the change of government will enable Japan to reverse
this state of affairs,'' wrote Zhang Yunling, director of the CASS
Institute of Asian and Pacific Studies.
Dai's warning on the weaker yen last month has been credited with
helping to spur U.S.-Japanese intervention to prop up the flagging yen.
The central banker and other officials hinted that a weaker Japanese
currency makes it difficult for Beijing to stick to its policy of
keeping the Chinese yuan firm.
Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited |
