Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kicked off the start of a weeklong trip to East Asia by calling for more cooperation from the region in alleviating the worldwide recession.

“We have to work together to address the global financial crisis,” Clinton said today after arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. “America’s relationships across the Pacific are indispensable to addressing the challenges and seizing the opportunities of the 21st century.”

The arrival came hours after a report showed the Japanese economy, the world’s second largest, shrank at the fastest pace since 1974. Clinton called relations with Japan “a cornerstone” of U.S. policy, signifying the importance of an alliance that next year will mark a 50-year-old security agreement.

Clinton earlier said she will use her first trip as the top U.S. diplomat to confer with Asian colleagues on how to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. She will also outline the stimulus bill Congress passed last week to leaders in Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China -- all of whom will attend the Group of 20 summit in London in April.

Policymakers worldwide are grappling with the worst global recession since World War II, brought on by a U.S. financial crisis that shows no sign of abating. Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven nations at the weekend urged Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to move faster to fix the banking system.

“The single most important fact is that she is taking this trip early on because this is the most dynamic region in the world and it’s obviously crucial in the near term because of the global economic crisis,” former U.S. Ambassador to China Winston Lord said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Japanese Economy Slumps

Japan’s gross domestic product fell by an annual pace of 12.7 percent last quarter, a government report today showed. China’s economy expanded 6.3 percent in the three months ended March 31, the weakest pace since 1999.

Part of Clinton’s time will be spent reassuring Japan and South Korea, each host to tens of thousands of U.S. troops, of the U.S. commitment to their security and diplomacy to ensure an end to North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons. The communist country today said speculation it is preparing to test- fire a long-range missile is a “vicious trick.”

“We have and continue to support a policy of extended deterrence that provides protection as part of our alliance with Japan” Clinton said. “It remains as strong as it has ever been, we are absolutely committed to it.”

Importance of Asia

With policies still under review and top advisers not yet in place, the value of her trip will be to set the parameters of cooperation with Asian partners and send a message that “the global center of gravity” is shifting across the Pacific, said Douglas Paal, a former senior Asia official at the National Security Council, and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

In Japan, Clinton will sign an agreement to shift 8,000 Marines from a base in Okinawa to the Pacific island of Guam, a U.S. territory. She’ll also meet families of Japanese kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s, an unresolved trauma Japan wants addressed as part of any deal with North Korea to normalize relations with its neighbors and the U.S.

The issue is one of “grave concern,” Clinton said, adding that the Obama administration wants to press the North Koreans to be more forthcoming. Kim Jong Il’s government has failed to live up to a pledge in August to provide more information about the abductees.

In China, she will meet President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to discuss trade, investment, the country’s 4-trillion- yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package and areas where China can boost its faltering economy without engaging in protectionism.

Human Rights Concerns

A challenge for Clinton will be to balance her longstanding concerns about human rights in China with a desire to engage Asia’s fastest-growing economy on other issues.

“Human rights is part of our agenda with the Chinese,” she said, “as are climate change and clean energy,” and dealing with the North Korean nuclear threat, she added.

Asked whether the Obama administration intends to maintain arms sales to Taiwan, Clinton reiterated the U.S.’s longstanding “one China” policy of recognizing the government in Beijing while allowing for the support of Taiwan’s defense.

Clinton also confirmed she will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in two weeks, in an effort to “engage at all levels” with Russian counterparts. No decision had been made about whether to proceed with Bush administration plans for a U.S. missile defense shield in Eastern Europe that have irritated relations with Russia.

To contact the reporter on this story: Indira Lakshmanan at ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 16, 2009 07:06 EST