Takeo Hiranuma, minister of economy, trade and industry, called Friday for the creation within 10 years of a Pacific economic bloc that would not only include Japan and Southeast Asian states but also other East Asian and Oceanian nations.
"Establishing a broad economic partnership in a Pacific economic bloc would not be bad for Southeast Asia, East Asia as well as Oceania," Hiranuma told a news conference.
"I think it good to be considered broadly and with plenty of time -- about, say, a 10-year span," the minister said.
Hiranuma used the phrase "Pacific economic bloc" for the first time as he commented on the differences in opinion between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, over whether a proposed regional economic partnership should be expanded to include Australia and New Zealand.
Koizumi has proposed in his ongoing five-nation tour of Southeast Asia that Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations form a comprehensive economic partnership, and has won support from Mahathir as well as Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Koizumi and Mahathir also agreed Thursday that states in the Southeast and three Northeast Asian countries -- China, Japan and South Korea -- should seek closer ties to deal with common economic challenges, particularly from China.
ASEAN and China agreed in November to set up a free-trade zone in 10 years.
Hiranuma noted Japan's close ties to Oceania in raw materials trade and Oceanian countries' interest in concluding bilateral free trade pacts with Tokyo. His staff will later this month launch a study with ASEAN officials on the envisaged Japan-ASEAN alliance.
They are to report next fall to annual gatherings of their economic ministers and leaders.