By Deborah Cameron Herald Correspondent in Tokyo
DEEPENING global fears about the rift between Japan and China are being felt most acutely in Asia, where leaders are warning of an arms race and of risks to their dream of a regional economic community.
"Our economics is pushing us in one direction but our politics is pulling us in another," Malaysia's Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi, said in Tokyo yesterday.
The tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, at their worst in 30 years, prompted blunt words from Mr Badawi and caused the Philippine ambassador to Japan, Domingo Siazon, to raise the spectre of a future atomic arms race if Japan, like China, became a nuclear power.
Thomas Hubbard, a former US ambassador to South Korea who is now a consultant on Asia, also said Japan and China were moving further apart.
China's ambassador to Japan, Wang Yi, said the relationship was so bad that "we should go back to the starting point" 34 years ago, when the two signed an agreement to normalise diplomacy.
China and Japan, whose current leaders have never had a summit meeting, should be able to discuss their disputes. Until there were talks "we cannot clearly see the future of the bilateral relationship", he said.
Mr Badawi, at a conference to map out Asian economic integration, took the unusual step of criticising Japan on its home turf before an audience of about 1000 who listened in total silence.
Regional solidarity had been "seriously dented" and it was the fault of Japan and China, he said. When Tokyo and Beijing pulled in different directions "we will all suffer the consequences".
Mr Siazon said rivalry between Japan and China could lead to greater defence spending and ignite a regional arms race, soaking up money that might otherwise relieve poverty.
China's military spending might be about 1.7 times higher than officially stated and will continue to rise sharply, an international think tank said on Wednesday.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies assessment came a day after the Pentagon said China's military build-up had altered power balances in Asia and the Pacific, and called on Beijing to explain its actions.
In its research, the London think tank focused on 2003. It estimated Chinese military-related spending for that year at $US39.6 billion ($52.6 billion), compared with the $US23 billion officially stated. The estimate is included in the institute's annual survey of global might, The Military Balance, which concludes that the world faces "a very troubled security landscape" this year.
