Japan courts leaders from Mekong River region

By John Ruwitch

HANOI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - A jostle for influence in Southeast Asia's emerging Mekong River region moves up a notch this week when Japan hosts leaders from five countries where China and other players have ramped up aid and investment.

The two-day event in Tokyo will focus on sustainable development and climate change in a region that includes Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Mekong River snakes through a last frontier of emerging Asia, scarred by war and anti-colonial struggles, a region viewed as strategic for its proximity to shipping lanes and abundant natural resources.

In recent decades, Tokyo has been the biggest outside source of aid to the sub-region, whose combined population exceeds 220 million and with a total GDP of more than $400 billion. Japanese companies were also among the earliest foreign investors.

But China's global quest for resources, and its outward investment drive of the past decade or so, have enlarged its presence in Southeast Asia.

"The Japanese realise -- they've realised for a long time -- that they are just being totally outmanoeuvred by the Chinese," said Richard Cronin, Director of the Southeast Asia programme at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

One of the world's major river systems, the Mekong starts in the Tibetan plateau and runs 4,800 km through China and Southeast Asia. China will not be present at the summit.

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