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Hashimoto to lead Japanese delegati
- Subject: Hashimoto to lead Japanese delegati
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 13:52:00
Hashimoto to lead Japanese delegation to Myanmar
Kyodo, Hong Kong 24 November 1999. Former Japanese
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto will lead a delegation
of former diplomats, civil servants and economists to
Myanmar on Tuesday, the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern
Economic Review said Wednesday.
The visit will come just after a planned meeting between
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and the chairman
of Myanmar's junta, Gen. Than Shwe, on the sidelines of
the Association of South East Asian Nations
summit in Manila on Monday.
The Obuchi-Than Shwe dialogue will be the first meeting
between a senior world leader and the Myanmar junta chief
since 1988.
But Japanese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saadaki Numata
was quoted as saying Hashimoto is not going to Myanmar
as Obuchi's senior foreign policy adviser.
According to the magazine, which carries the report in its issue
due Thursday, Hashimoto's visit is being
organized under the auspices of the Nippon Foundation.
Still, the Japanese initiatives are interpreted by at least one
Japanese scholar as underlining Japanese concern over
China's growing influence in Myanmar, the magazine said.
And another source was quoted as saying Tokyo is considering
resuming direct investment and aid to Myanmar.
A spokesman at the Japanese foreign ministry said the planned
meeting between Obuchi and the Myanmar general will take a
'slightly difference of approach' than that taken by the West.
'We share the same concerns about human rights and democracy,
but don't want to shun dialogue' with the government of Myanmar,
the spokesman was reported as saying.
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