Japanese Lovers

Japan will host a summit with five Mekong nations on Saturday aimed at fostering development and friendship in a resource-rich region that is also being courted by China.
Leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam will be welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, whose export-dependent economy is on the lookout for cheap labour to power growth.
The Mekong River flows through China’s southwestern province of Yunnan into Southeast Asia, serving as a major trade route through several countries.
But much of the region along the lower reaches of the 4,800-kilometer river has historically been isolated by war and political turmoil and remains poorer than other parts of Southeast Asia.
Rivals Japan and China have for years poured aid and investment into the Mekong region, home to more than 220 million people, and are increasingly seen as competitors for influence.
The summit, which starts in the morning, is the fourth of its kind, and will also provide the latest stage for Myanmar as it journeys back to international respectability.
Japan, unlike its Western allies, maintained trade ties and dialogue with Myanmar in its years of isolation, warning a hard line on the then-ruling junta could push it closer to China, its key ally and commercial partner.
On the sidelines of the summit, Noda will meet Myanmar President Thein Sein, when he is expected to announce Japan is ready to forgive 300 billion yen ($3.7 billion) debt and restart a suspended assistance program.
With growing number of Japanese firms looking to enter Myanmar for cheap labor and capitalise on a strong demand for infrastructure, Thein Sein is also scheduled to meet top business leaders and visit thermal power plants in Japan.
Tokyo has recently dispatched top officials, including the foreign and industry ministers along with business leaders, to Myanmar, which has rich natural gas reserves as well as strong fisheries and agricultural potential.
After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to the country in December, scores of Western dignitaries have visited the nation, while Beijing has also exerted its military and economic influence.
British premier David Cameron visited the former British colony earlier this month, becoming the first Western leader to go there since the junta took power in 1962.
Myanmar has come in from the cold since a nominally civilian government came to power last year following elections that the West had criticized as a sham.
Earlier this month, veteran democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi was elected to parliament and international sanctions on the regime are increasingly being relaxed.
European Union diplomats said EU countries have agreed in principle to suspend all sanctions against Myanmar, with the exception of an arms embargo, for a 12-month period.
Suu Kyi plans to visit Britain and Norway as part of her first trip outside Myanmar in 24 years, her party said Wednesday.
However, in a sign of discord between Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and the ruling party, the opposition on Friday said they would boycott parliament next week over a row about the constitutional oath.