Japan, ASEAN fete 40 years of ties, eyeing China

TOKYO — Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says Southeast Asian nations welcome Japan's efforts to nurture closer security cooperation in the region, given China's growing power in the region.

Yudhoyono said in a speech Friday that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are hoping, though, that Japan and China will find a way to mend ties ruptured by a territorial dispute.

The biggest influence at a summit this weekend marking 40 years of ties between Japan and ASEAN will likely be the regional power that is not attending — China.

Nurturing closer ties with ASEAN has been one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's top foreign policy priorities since he took office nearly a year ago, and China's increasingly assertive stance in the region has advanced that courtship.