TOKYO, Feb 16: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — the first American top diplomat in half a century to start her job with an Asia trip — praised US ties with the region after arriving in Japan on Monday.

“I have chosen Asia on my first trip as secretary of state to convey that America’s relationships across the Pacific are indispensable to addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the 21st century,” she said.

Clinton was set to meet Japanese leaders on Tuesday and the following day travel on to Indonesia, followed by South Korea and China.

“By strengthening our historic Asia alliances, starting right here in Japan, and forging new partnerships with emerging nations, we can begin together to build networks around the world to help us solve problems that none of us can solve alone,” she said shortly after arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.

In her talks with Japan’s leaders and citizens, she said, “we will be looking for ways to collaborate on issues that go beyond just our mutual concerns to really addressing the global concerns.”

These would include “climate change and clean energy, Afghanistan, Pakistan, nuclear proliferation and other common concerns.” As she flew across the Pacific on Monday, a warning from North Korea and gloomy economic data on Japan’s recession underscored the important issues at stake in the talks with her Asian hosts.

Hours before her arrival, North Korea fuelled speculation that it was preparing to test a long-range missile by suggesting it would go ahead with a rocket launch as part of what it called a space programme.

In Japan, meanwhile, the economics minister warned that Asia’s biggest economy shrank at the fastest pace in 35 years in the fourth quarter and faces the worst crisis since World War II.

Clinton said “the bilateral relationship between the United States and Japan is a cornerstone in our efforts around the world,” adding that Washington and Tokyo needed to work together to address the global financial crisis.

During her visit, Clinton was expected to arrange a date in March for US President Barack Obama and Japan’s Prime Minister Taro Aso to meet for the first time, Japan’s Jiji Press reported.

Japan has greeted Clinton’s visit as a sign that the Obama administration will maintain strong ties with the oldest US regional ally, despite China’s ascendancy as a geopolitical and economic power.

“We will discuss how to handle the global economic crisis, the North Korean issue, the Afghanistan issue and other issues faced by the international community and the region,” government spokesman Takeo Kawamura said.

“We will discuss ways to strengthen the Japan-US alliance. I think we will also strengthen our cooperation between Japan and the United States on the issue of North Korea,” he said.

Japan was also set to raise the emotive issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies during the Cold War.

Clinton has agreed to meet families of the abductees.

She was to hold talks with embattled Prime Minister Taro Aso, Japan’s foreign and defence ministers, and main opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, whose party is leading in opinion polls ahead of elections later this year.

Clinton also planned to sign an agreement to relocate 8,000 US marines from the southern Japanese base of Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam.

She will leave Japan on Wednesday and then visit Indonesia, South Korea and China.—AFP