Japan’s commitment to ASEAN

The opinion article by M.S. Pushpanathan, deputy secretary general of ASEAN on April 14, recollected the warm heart of ASEAN member states behind the holding of the Special ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Meeting on April 9, and I could not help taking up my pen.

First of all, let me take this opportunity to extend my profound appreciation to President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono and Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa for their strong leadership to organize the meeting, to Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary general for his unstinting cooperation and to all the heads of delegation from the ASEAN for their solicitude to participate in the Meeting

As the very first “Dialogue Partner” for ASEAN, Japan has had various Summit meetings and foreign minister’s meetings with ASEAN since 1973. Nevertheless, the meeting was indeed a special meeting for a heart-to-heart engagement. At the meeting which was started with the moment of silence, Japanese Foreign Minister Matsumoto stated how much the Japanese government and the Japanese people were encouraged by the large support extended by the people and the governments of ASEAN member states and explained that Japan
was making every possible effort to overcome the nuclear accident triggered by the massive earthquake and tsunami.

When Foreign Minister Matsumoto said that he was proud of the people of Japan who did not forget the spirit of mutual help even amid the great confusion after the disaster and that he felt strongly that Japan would overcome this unprecedented national crisis and would recover and emerge even stronger than ever by mobilizing all the power of the people of Japan and the generous support by other countries, the ASEAN participants deeply nodded with their eyes glistering with emotion. This is the moment that the Japanese delegation will never forget.

Every year, natural disasters grind down the people somewhere in the world. Among all the disaster victims around the world, approximately 90 percent is said to be Asians. I believe that, because we are Asians who are fully aware of the horribleness of natural disasters from the past experiences including the Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004, the earthquake in Myanmar and the flood in the South of Thailand last month, Japan and ASEAN could further enhance our solidarity through this Meeting.

At the meeting, Japan committed itself to sharing the experience and lessons learned from the disaster, and thus to enhancing our support in the area of disaster management. In order to prevent further grief of the people from out of natural disasters, Japan will strongly support the ASEAN’s efforts toward disaster management, including the establishment of AHA Centre.

Japan lives in Asia. In the “New Growth Strategy” of Japan which was launched in June last year, the government of Japan clearly shows its intention to support the economic growth of our Asian neighbors, and through it, to pursue Japan’s own growth together with Asian countries. That remains unchanged even after the disaster.

Our commitment to support the ASEAN’s efforts toward the establishment of the ASEAN Community is therefore equally unchanged.  Japan believes that the further development of ASEAN is a crucial factor for the peace and stability in the entire East Asia, and for that purpose, we will continue to devote every possible effort to extend necessary assistance.

The recovery of Japan and the development of ASEAN are inter-related. Based on “Kizuna”, which is the bond that has been further strengthened through the Meeting, we wish to work for the betterment of each other.

As for the nuclear accident, Japan has been and will do its utmost to tackle the issue, and will provide information with the entire international community with maximum transparency. We promise that Japan will utilize the lessons learned from the series of accidents and will contribute to improving the safety of nuclear power generation.

Since immediately after the earthquake on March 11, 2011, the Embassy of Japan has received a great deal of generous offers of support and there have been a number of events for pray and charity for Japan by Indonesian people.

The government of Indonesia was quick to render its support to send relief goods and to dispatch a humanitarian assistance team to Japan. ASEAN member states also provided us with assistance in various ways such as emergency relief, donation and deployment of humanitarian assistance teams. We would like to express our deepest gratitude for all those generous assistance.

It is true that great sorrow covered our entire nation after the disaster. However, at the same time, Japan has learned a lot of things such as warm heart of people who help each other beyond the border, great courage and resilience to stand up against the calamity and strong solidarity with ASEAN.

Let me reiterate that, in order to take advantage of lessons learned from the calamity and to reciprocate ASEAN’s kind help to us, we will never turn inwards and will continuously contribute to the development of the ASEAN nations and further engage in the endeavor to enhance ASEAN connectivity. We will make our utmost efforts so that we can show our reconstruction to our true friend ASEAN.

The writer is Ambassador of Japan to ASEAN.