Singapore urges strong US ties with China, Japan

WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) Singapore's prime minister today urged President George W Bush to maintain strong US ties with China and Japan because Southeast Asian countries did not want to choose between the two powers.

Bush, seated next to Lee Hsien Loong after their meeting at the White House, said he would visit Singapore to discuss trade and security on the way to Australia for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in September.

''We discussed America's relations in Asia, with China, with Japan and Korea,'' Lee said.

''And good relations between America and the major countries, China and Japan, are critical because the Southeast Asian countries want to be friends with both and do not want to have to choose sides with either.'' The leaders said they discussed Iran, North Korea and the Middle East. Bush thanked Singapore for its support in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Lee also said it was important for the United States to continue to tackle problems in the Middle East, including Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

''It's critical for us in Southeast Asia that America does that,'' he said. Extremists ''watch carefully what's happening in the Middle East and take heart, or lose heart, depending on what's happening.'' Reuters SM DB2344