Singapore―Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been touring Southeast Asia to counter China's growing influence and deliver the message that Tokyo intends to remain a major regional power. But after visiting the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in five days, Mr. Koizumi is finding it a hard sell. He's encountering many influential Southeast Asians who are disillusioned with Japan's inability to overcome decade-long economic and political crises, and who are convinced that China is the country of their future. In advocating a regional "economic community," Mr. Koizumi is scrambling to catch up after China proposed a free-trade area with Asean in November. Southeast Asian officials say there is "clear evidence" that , the move, in what Japan assumed was its natural sphere of influence, shocked Tokyo.
展开▼
