North Asia summit to show goodwill on Japan crisis

TOKYO (Reuters) - The leaders of China and South Korea plan to visit an area near Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant during an annual summit this weekend in a show of support for their neighbour's efforts to tackle a prolonged humanitarian and nuclear crisis.

But mistrust over long-standing feuds may hurt Tokyo's hopes to secure help in softening the economic damage from the March 11 disaster when the three nations, which account for 75 percent of Asia's economy, hold discussions in Tokyo.

Cooperation in disaster relief and nuclear safety will be the focus of the weekend meeting after the magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami, which has left 25,000 dead or missing and triggered the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

But Japan may also seek Beijing's and Seoul's commitment to ease restrictions on imports of food imposed after the disaster triggered radiation fears. Last month the trade ministers of China and South Korea rebuffed the call.

In a symbolic gesture, Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan, China's premier Wen Jiabao and South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak plan to visit Fukushima prefecture, where the nuclear plant is located, to meet evacuees and to show that the environment there is safe.

"Premier Wen wants to travel to the hardest-hit area in a show of support for the Japanese people," Assistant Chinese Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said in Beijing this week.

Lee's office also confirmed on Wednesday that he planned to go.

Kan said ties with China had warmed after it quickly offered aid despite a territorial dispute that flared up last year.

"I want to express my gratitude. This is a big step in improving relations between Japan and China," he told a news conference on Wednesday.

Japan has been hoping that the spirit of solidarity could translate in steps that would help contain the damage to trade and economy.

It is keen to see restrictions on food imports from the Fukushima area lifted, because even though food makes up just 1 percent of Japan's exports, it fears radiation concerns could affect other goods just when its export-reliant economy is slipping into recession.

Tokyo also hopes China and South Korea will help reverse a post-quake plunge in visits of tourists from their countries, who have in recent years helped boost Japan's depressed retail market by splurging on electronics, cosmetics and luxury goods.

TOUGH QUESTIONS

But talks may instead centre on the outlook for the nuclear crisis itself and Japan may face hard questions how it plans to rebuild international trust after acknowledging delays and inadequate communication in its early response to the disaster.

Last month, South Korea's prime minister accused Japan of "incompetence" and other officials said it had informed Washington of a plan to release radioactive water from the Fukushima complex into the Pacific but did not tell Seoul.

Restoring trust is complicated by a decades-long history of mutual suspicion over military ambitions and feuds stemming mostly from bitter Chinese and South Korean memories of Japan's past military aggression.

Ties between Japan and China chilled last September after Japan detained a Chinese skipper whose trawler collided with Japanese patrol boats near a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea, close to potentially vast oil and gas reserves.

"I do feel that China's sympathy for Japan is fading, but I don't believe that the crisis ever really presented a "golden opportunity" for Sino-Japan relations," said David Fouse, associate professor at the Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii.

"One thing that the crisis demonstrated was how deep the mistrust and suspicion between China and Japan has become," he said, noting how Japan had accepted only 15 rescue workers from China in contrast to a much bigger team from the United States.

But Japan's crisis has also highlighted the growing interdependence of the three economies, and therefore the need for closer diplomatic ties.

"The reality is that our countries are linked stronger than ever, as we have seen with Chinese and South Korean manufacturers being affected by output disruptions of Japanese auto and electronic parts as a result of the earthquake," said Satoshi Amako, professor at Waseda University in Tokyo.

(Additional reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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