Japan pledges $6bn to Mekong states
July 4, 2015
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (central in above photo) made the pledge of $6.1 billion (5.5 billion euros) at a summit in Tokyo attended by his counterparts from the "Mekong Five" countries - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam - which all lie along the lower section of the Mekong River.
"Japan will implement support worth around 750 billion yen in official development assistance for the next three years," Abe told a news conference following the Japan-Mekong summit, which has been held annually for seven years.
"Japan will contribute to infrastructure development of the region in both quality and quantity," he said, adding: "The Mekong region and Japan are partners that will develop together."
Power struggle
The new Japanese offer comes as China is extending its clout in the region by launching a new investment bank in competition with the Tokyo-backed Asian Development Bank.
The Japanese Kyodo news agency, citing unnamed government officials, said Japan wants to promote advanced Japanese technology, environmentally-friendly innovation and capacity-building schemes in a deliberate bid to contrast with the type of development backed by the Chinese Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which Washington says may fund projects that lack environmental safeguards.
The leaders at the summit also made a veiled allusion to China's recent maritime expansion that has seen it build artificial islands in areas of the South China Sea that other countries also claim as their own.
Abe and the other leaders "noted concerns expressed over the recent development in the South China Sea, which will further complicate the situation and erode trust and confidence and may undermine regional peace, security and stability," according to a statement released from the summit.
Japanes relations with China, which have long been burdened by historical and territorial disputes, recently experienced a slight thaw when Abe and China's President Xi Jinping held their first summit last year.
tj/ (AFP, dpa, Reuters)