Bush hopes Japan continues Afghan support-media

TOKYO, Aug 31 (Reuters) US President George W Bush said that he hoped Japan would continue to support US led military operations in Afghanistan, but a powerful Japanese opposition leader warned he would not back an extension of the mission.

Japan has been refuelling coalition ships in the Indian Ocean since 2001 under a law that expires on November 1, but the main opposition Democratic Party could vote down a government bill aimed at extending the mandate, possibly suspending the mission.

In an interview with Asian media ahead of a meeting of regional leaders in Australia next month, Bush said he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at their planned summit, Kyodo news agency said today.

''Japan has been a positive contributor to dealing with the extremists in this ideological war,'' Kyodo quoted him as saying.

''I hope that they will continue to maintain their positive influence.'' Officials from Abe's Liberal Democratic Party have repeatedly assured the United States that they will do all they can to pass the extension bill, but it faces a rocky path.

Since his party defeated the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an upper house election last month, Democratic Party leader Ichiro Ozawa has repeatedly said he opposes the mission, which he says does not have official United Nations backing.

He rebuffed a personal appeal from US ambassador Thomas Schieffer to reconsider and this week told visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel he would not change his mind.

''The argument that a political party would be unable to run a government unless it endorses the antiterrorism law is a wild argument,'' Ozawa told reporters today.

''Even in the United States, supporters for measures of President Bush's administration form a minority in reality,'' he added.

A Japanese newspaper poll this week showed 53 per cent of respondents were against extending the mission, while 35 per cent supported it.

REUTERS KK RN1703