(ECNS) – Yukio Hatoyama, who served as Japan's Prime Minister from 2009 and 2010, said China's One Belt One Road initiative should extend to Japan and South Korea, and that Japan should join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at a faster speed.
Hatoyama made the speech at the 2015 annual meeting of the International Finance Forum in Beijing, held from November 6 to 8.
"The three countries are economically close and complementary," Hatoyama said. "Japan has advantage in machinery such as robots, and China has experience in production of consumption goods."
The Belt and Road Initiative, first raised by China in 2013, offers opportunities for China and Asian and European countries to join hands in economic development. It consists of a network of railways, highways and other forms of infrastructure, as well as oil and gas pipelines, power grids, Internet networks and aviation routes.
The cooperation between China and Japan in the Belt and Road and AIIB could set an example for other Asian countries, Hatoyama said. It will boost the development of not only the region, but the whole of east Asia, he added.
