TOKYO (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell played down China's moves toward ending spying cases against two U.S.-connected academics, saying Monday Beijing has to do more to earn a seat beside the world's democracies.
Powell was making a brief stop in Tokyo ahead of a five-day sprint through Asia.
Human rights was part of the U.S. agenda with China ``and just removing one or two cases that might be high-profile cases for the moment isn't enough,'' he told reporters on his plane.
Powell was likely to face questioning about the future of some 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan after a U.S. airman was indicted for raping a woman on the southern island of Okinawa.
Kyodo news agency said the mayor of Okinawa visited U.S. Kadena Air Base Monday to call for a curfew after three arrests of Americans in two days -- for an alleged car theft, an arson attack and an incident of vandalism.
Powell did not address the idea of a curfew -- though U.S. officials say they want to reduce their ``footprint'' -- and he said the incidents were no argument for removing the troops.
``We will do everything we can to instruct our youngsters as to how to behave as guests in Japan, and especially in Okinawa, but there will be these occasional incidents,'' he said.
``I don't think it is possible for us to remove our presence from Okinawa and I don't think that is the position of the Japanese government,'' he added. ``Our security arrangement is really a bulwark of our relationship with Japan.''
Powell was due to fly from Tokyo to the ASEAN regional forum, Asia's key security group, which is meeting from July 24 to 26 in Hanoi, Vietnam, in what will be an emotional return for the soldier turned diplomat to the land where he fought 30 years ago.
A major topic will be the situation in Indonesia, where Indonesian lawmakers have elected Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the country's founding leader, as the fourth president in as many turbulent years, sacking her disgraced predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid for incompetence.
News of Wahid's removal had not emerged when Powell spoke to reporters but he released a statement before leaving Washington saying the United States was ``deeply concerned'' at the leader's declaration of a state of emergency and plan to suspend parliament.
From Tokyo Powell flies to South Korea for a day Friday and to Beijing on Saturday, where he will be preparing for a visit later in the year by President Bush.
An immediate issue for Powell will be detentions of several U.S.-linked scholars, including Chinese-American academic, Li Shaoming, convicted of spying last week and ordered deported.
A lawyer for U.S.-based scholar Gao Zhan, accused of spying for Taiwan, told Reuters in New York on Friday that she would stand trial next week on charges of collecting intelligence.
CHINA MUST DO
Powell said he hoped Gao would be free by the time he got to Beijing, but this was not enough as China had other human rights problems. These include Beijing's treatment of followers of the Falun Gong movement and alleged violations of religious freedom strongly criticized in Washington.
``There are other people who have been detained and there are other people who could be detained tomorrow,'' Powell said.
``We're looking for a more basic change in their human rights attitudes and positions,'' he said, giving a preview of part of his message to the Chinese officials he will meet in Vietnam and Beijing.
``We think it would be better for their society, it would be better for their standing in the international community as part of becoming a fully fledged member of the international community,'' he added.
Critics of China's human rights record hope the recent decision to award Beijing the 2008 Olympic games will spur it to its record.
China hopes to gain economically from hosting the Olympics and it is poised to enter the World Trade Organization, thanks to U.S. support.
But Powell said China had to think about more than becoming part of the international community, despite the theme of economic transformation that he said would be a common thread on his Asian trip.
``The international community is not just an economic community, it's a community of human rights, it's a community of the individual rights of men and women. It's a community of increasing democratization, if you want to be a fully-fledged member of it,'' he said.
Powell said he would meet Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Tuesday to show support for economic restructuring and to encourage ``aggressive action'' toward reaching its goals.