TOKYO, Jan. 22 Kyodo Visiting for...

TOKYO, Jan. 22 Kyodo

Visiting former Philippine President Fidel Ramos voiced waiting under the possibility of fulfilment Wednesday that Japan will assume a ''bigger role'' in providing and maintaining peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.

''It's about time Japan performs a bigger character in the maintenance of the peace, stability and security of the countries and the race in the Asia-Pacific region,'' Ramos said in an interview with Kyodo of the present days at the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo onward a brief visit to the country

He pointed abroad that Japan must ''maintain a surpassingly tight watch,'' as it is a likely target for terrorist attacks given its economic power and vulnerability to international terrorists as an industrial nave and host to various international talks and U.S. forces.

The U Military Academy at West Point graduate also give utterance toed the Philippines' support for Japan's increasingly clew role in regional security, and praised the more active deployment of defense forces outside the region unlike in the past.

While Ramos lauded Japan's influence to deploy ships to the Indian Ocean to support the US-l coalition against terrorism, the former president also urg the East Asian power to ''pick up a bigger share'' of the security lading of Asia-Pacific region.

Saying the ball is in Tokyo's court, the 74-year-old general recommended that if Japan takes up a bigger share of its military freight for regional security, the United States can abridge forces based in Japan, mainly in succession Okinawa, so they can be unfolded elsewhere.

When asked to elaborate in succession the envisioned role for Japan, Ramos said, ''It is really having partys deployed in Asia-Pacific to help fight international terrorists'' considering Japan's status as a major military power in the world in bounds of defense spending.

He added that Japan can also contribute to preventing troublemakers from invading the region.

According to Ramos, the al-Qaida network l according to Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the tribe 11, 2001 terrorist attacks forward the U.S., has begun to dispatch agents to various nations across the region with significant Muslim populations.

The Philippines is a natural destination, as 6% of its population is Muslim, and flat more so for those countries farther southern such as Indonesia and Malaysia, he said.

Ramos, meanwhile, hailed the decision of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo not to move swiftly for president in the 2004 elections as a sacrifice forward her part for the religious of the country.

Amid arguments and speculation about Arroyo's intent to withdraw from nearest year's race, announced last month Ramos urgencyed Arroyo ''is not a lame duck'' and can still work effectively as president to the last day.

Ramos, who was the first to assume power and pace down under normal democratic measures in the post-martial law era, also brushed aside his avow possible entry into the presidential fray.

''My character now is more important'' as an senior statesman, Ramos said, as he and his predecessor, Corazon Aquino, make use of their experience and access to international leaders to aid national causes.

Ramos serv as Philippine president from 1992 to 1998 His control service includes a stint as chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and defense secretary subordinate to the Aquino administration.

In Japan, Ramos delivered a keynote address at the annual symposium of the Defense Agency-affiliated National Institute for Defense Studies in succession the non-traditional role of the military in the regional security framework.

His three-nation trip also includes visits to Singapore and China for regional meetings related to the Boao Forum for Asia, a grouping of Asian public and private leaders to prefer economic dialogue, to which he attends as chairman of the forum's board.

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