Japan to help train Timor Leste's military personnel

TOKYO: Japan agreed on Monday to help train Timor Leste's military and lend support during natural disasters and epidemics, officials and news reports said.

The agreement came as Timor Leste's Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, on a four-day visit to Japan, held a series of talks with government officials including Prime Minister Taro Aso, the government said.

"Prime Minister Aso stated that Japan would continue to actively assist peace-building in Timor Leste for peace and stability in the country and in the Asia-Pacific region," their joint press statement said.

Aso told Gusmao that Japan was ready to receive military personnel to study at the National Defence Academy of Japan starting in April next year so that the Timor Leste armed forces can better work with UN peacekeeping troops there.

Aso invited Timor Leste's President Jose Ramos-Horta to Japan, while the two leaders agreed to work together to jointly tackle regional and global issues, including North Korea's missile threat, the statement said.

Earlier in the day, Japanese Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada held talks with Gusmao and promised to support Timor Leste in the event of natural disasters and to help fight infectious diseases, Jiji Press said.

Gusmao also met Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and asked for Japanese loans aimed at helping the country speed up construction of infrastructure, the foreign ministry said.

Nakasone told Gusmao that Tokyo is considering sending a fact-finding mission to Timor Leste to carry out feasibility studies on possible public work projects Japan can financially support.

Japan has so far provided more than 15 billion yen (152 million dollars) in grant-in-aid to Timor Leste, but has yet to extend any government loans to the country.

Nakasone also offered Japanese support for Timor Leste's effort to be a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the ministry said.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has maintained a regular dialogue with three Asian economic powers - China, Japan and South Korea.

Japan, despite its post-World War II pacifist constitution, sent peacekeepers to Timor Leste after country won independence from Indonesia in 2002 following a bloody conflict.

Tokyo, a major financial supporter to Timor Leste, has also sent election monitors to the country, which was occupied by imperial Japan during WWII.

Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975 and ruled the former Portuguese colony with a brutal grip until 1999, when the United Nations took charge. Timor Leste eventually won independence in 2002