Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Thursday that he will discuss Japan's decision to keep its troops in Iraq for another year with his Japanese counterpart Junichiro Koizumi during the East Asia Summit next week.

The Japanese government decided earlier in the day to extend the humanitarian assistance mission by the Ground Self-Defense Force for one year.

The extension plan, however, leaves leeway for an earlier withdrawal depending on some conditions.

About 600 Japanese troops are stationed in the southern city of Samawah. Their two-year-old presence there expires Dec. 14.

Australia has sent extra 450 troops to Iraq to protect the Japanese troops.

Howard said the issue will be discussed at a bilateral meeting between him and Koizumi during the summit in Kuala Lumpur.

"I do welcome that decision by the Japanese government because I think that now is a bad time for countries to be talking about pulling out of Iraq," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television.

"We're right on the eve of an election, I think that election is crucial to the long-term future of Iraq. We'll continue to work with our Japanese friends, we'll continue to provide security," he said.

"As to the long-term details of that, that's a matter that I will in all probability discuss with the Japanese prime minister Mr. Koizumi in Kuala Lumpur next week at the East Asian Summit. We 're going to have a separate bilateral meeting," he said.

"It has been a good partnership between Australia and Japan. It 's important that Japan retains a presence in Iraq and we intend to be part of that continuing presence," the prime minister said.

Japan's Iraq mission is its first military deployment since World War II to a country where fighting is underway. Japanese troops are barred from combat under the pacifist 1947 constitution imposed after World War II by the United States.

Source: Xinhua