Japan's foreign ministry has defended Burma in a visa dispute with the European Union.
Officials with the Japanese ministry say the E.U. should not have denied a visa for Burma's economics minister, Soe Tha, for the Asia-Europe meeting in Rotterdam this week.
They say he should have been allowed to attend the event because it was an international meeting.
The officials say Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura will press the issue when he meets with E.U. foreign officials Saturday at UN headquarters in New York.
In response to the E.U.'s decision, economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations decided to boycott the meeting.
