Japan seeks S Asian support to counter China

The Japanese leader arrives tomorrow in India where he is expected to highlight the two countries' joint bid for permanent seats on the UN Security Council and show Tokyo's interest in the fast-growing Indian economy.

Koizumi heads on to Pakistan, the historic rival of India and a traditional ally of China.

But looming over the trip will be the presence of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who in mid-April went a charm offensive in India, which he used as a base to lash out at Japan's aspirations for a Security Council seat.

China has been trying to repair often tense ties with India but has seen tension soar with Japan, with the nation seeing some of its biggest rallies in years this month to accuse Japan of whitewashing its militarist past.

"India has received more international support for its bid for a permanent seat in the Security Council than Japan, which has drawn outcries of opposition especially from China," said Takako Hirose, professor of South Asian politics at Senshu University in Tokyo.

"One measure of the success of Mr. Koizumi's trip will be how closely India would position itself with Japan over UN reform," she said.

Japan is the biggest aid lender to India but also sees it as "rapidly growing, with its one billion people comprising a huge market," said a Japanese diplomat.