Australia's talks with US and Japan not directed at China: PM

SYDNEY - Australia's first trilateral summit meeting with the US and Japan should not be seen as a provocation to China, Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday.
Howard will meet with US President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Sydney.
The Saturday morning breakfast meeting is expected to focus on security issues and include discussion on North Korea's nuclear disarmament and China's military build-up.
Howard said the trio had been open about holding the trilateral talks and they should be seen as natural given the common interests of the three countries, which have long worked together on security issues.
"It's not directed at anybody. It's certainly not directed at the Chinese," Howard told a press conference in Sydney.
"But it's an expression of the commonality of interest that the three Pacific democracies have."
The Australian prime minister, who next weekend hosts 20 other world leaders for the annual APEC summit, said the forum provided "wonderful opportunity to have a meeting".
In March, Abe signed a security pact with Australia, Japan's first such agreement with any country besides the United States, its main ally.
Japan and Australia are both close US allies which supported the invasion of Iraq.

09/02/2007 04:48 GMT