Quake-hit Japan to welcome all overseas assistance: minister

TOKYO, March 22 Kyodo - Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto said Tuesday that Japan will basically welcome all overseas assistance for those affected by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, denying reports that Tokyo had turned down a U.S. offer to help tackle a nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture at the initial stage.
''We have not rejected any offer for assistance and basically plan to accept support such as the provision of relief supplies and energy,'' Matsumoto told a press conference.
To date, 130 countries and regions as well as 33 international organizations have offered to provide support and 20 nations have dispatched a rescue team to the disaster-stricken areas of northeastern and eastern Japan, the minister said.
News reports said Tokyo was slow in responding to the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power station as it rejected a U.S. offer to provide technical assistance.
But Matsumoto said Japanese authorities have been closely communicating with the U.S. government and with military and nuclear experts since shortly after the quake occurred, and that Washington has denied Tokyo rejected its offer of assistance.
Mark Toner, acting deputy spokesman at the U.S. State Department, said in a daily briefing Thursday, ''I don't know that they ever denied'' a U.S. offer for assistance. He also said Washington does not think Japan reacted too slowly.
As for energy assistance, countries such as China and Russia have offered to provide heavy oil, gasoline and natural gas to Japan, which is suffering from a fuel shortage following the disaster.
Matsumoto said coordination is under way between Japan and those countries on the specifics of their offers.