KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will not be meeting separately with Chinese or South Korean leaders during his trip to Malaysia.
Koizumi is in Kuala Lumpur to attend the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus Japan, China and South Korea on Monday, the Japan-ASEAN summit the next day and the inaugural East Asia Summit on Wednesday.
He shrugged off China and South Korea's decisions, saying the deterioration in ties with the two neighboring nations is "temporary," Kyodo news service reported.
Koizumi is expected this week to announce plans to set up a $100 million fund to help ASEAN tackle bird flu, new types of influenza and terrorism, Japanese government sources told Kyodo.
Four of the five countries that have reported cases of humans infected with bird flu are ASEAN members -- Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. The other ASEAN members are Brunei, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.
The EAS is made up of the ASEAN-plus-three members and Australia, New Zealand and India.
