Japan's new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has called on Chinese President Hu Jintao to work together to form an East Asian Community similar to the European Union. He was speaking to the Chinese leader at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Hatoyama, who advocates more active cooperation with his Asian neighbours and a loosening of ties with the United States, did not specify which countries - besides Japan and China - would be invited to join the East Asian Community. President Hu stopped short of agreeing to the proposal but said he wants "peaceful and friendly" relations with Japan.

Prime Minister Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan ended more than half a century of almost unbroken conservative rule in a sweeping election victory last month.

In his message to President Hu, the tone marked an unmistakeable sign from Japan's new leader that he wants to work with, rather than against, a rising China. Mr Hatoyama also said he supports the statement of apology for Japan's wartime aggression which was issued in 1995 by the then prime minister Tomiichi Murayama.