Wednesday, Sep. 5, 2012
Kyodo
Japan has told Cambodia, which holds the
rotating ASEAN chairmanship this year, that it is dissatisfied with the
chairman's statements after two meetings of the bloc's foreign
ministers in July, according to diplomatic sources.
Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba, in a letter to
his Cambodian counterpart, Hor Namhong, dated July 24, voiced regret
that the issue of the abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea
was not included in the statement, which was issued after the foreign
ministers' meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh on July
12, the sources said.
Genba also
took issue with Hor Namhong over the chairman's statement issued
following the foreign ministers' meeting of East Asia Summit member
countries, held in the Cambodian capital on the same day, saying that
territorial disputes in the South China Sea with China and its
neighbors were not properly conveyed.
The sources said Hor Namhong responded to
Genba's letter, noting that such statements are not meant to be a
verbatim record but rather a summary of the overall views of a meeting.
"No
country, except, Japan . . . had voiced disagreement with the
chairman's statements," Hor Namhong was quoted as saying in his letter
to Genba on July 27.
With Russia, South Korea and China having gone
on the diplomatic offensive over territorial disputes with Japan, the
tone of Hor Namhong's letter to Genba suggests a decline in Southeast
Asia of Japan's diplomatic clout.
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