The Japanese leader, widely expected
to lose power in an election next month, held talks with Obama on the sidelines
of the East Asia summit in Cambodia, and praised the US leader's foreign policy
pivot towards the region.
"I welcome the US policy of
placing importance on the Asia-Pacific region," Noda said, speaking
through a translator.
"With the increasing
severity of the security environment in East Asia, the importance of the
Japan-US alliance is increasing."
Obama, who faces the prospect of
building ties with another Japanese government as Noda's centre-left
administration faces defeat in the election, concentrated on the enduring
strength of US-Japan relations.
"This becomes another
opportunity for us to reaffirm the extraordinary alliance," he said.
Obama, who often bills foreign
trips as a trade-related extension of his effort to restore prosperity at home,
said the two leaders would discuss "economic issues that the world is
facing right now".
He added it was "very
important" for the allies to "coordinate effectively" on trade,
investment and jobs.
Noda's comments referred to a
flurry of territorial disputes that are increasing tensions in Asia, and
drawing the United States as a guarantor of the freedom of maritime navigation,
into indirect conflict with rising China.
Tokyo and Beijing are locked in a
row over the sovereignty of an archipelago in the East China Sea, while Japan
and South Korea are in dispute over who owns a pair of islands in waters
between the two countries.
Japan also has a longstanding
dispute with Russia over the Kuril islands.
China, meanwhile claims
sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea, and is resisting efforts
to negotiate directly with Southeast Asian neighbors, which also have
territorial claims.
-AFP/ac
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