US leader drops plans for Japan visit: report

TOKYO (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has dropped a plan to visit Japan next month to see embattled Prime Minister Shinzo Abe due to a highly awaited report on Iraq, Japanese media said Tuesday.

Bush had initially planned to stop in Japan, a close US ally, on his way home from an Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney, Kyodo News said, quoting unnamed sources in Washington.

But Bush decided to cancel the visit to Japan due to the Iraq report due in mid-September, it said. A US embassy spokesman in Tokyo declined comment.

General David Petraeus, commander of allied forces in Iraq, will present findings on progress in the US "surge" strategy of raising troop levels. The report will likely set off a new battle between the White House and Congress, controlled by the rival Democratic Party.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said last week that Bush would come to Sydney early but leave in the middle of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to prepare for the Petraeus report.

The APEC summit also comes at a time of political uncertainty for Abe, whose Liberal Democratic Party lost control of one house of parliament in an election last month following a raft of scandals.

Abe, a conservative who supports closer military ties with Washington and other allies, has refused calls to resign.

However, he too will leave Australia early, skipping an invitation to address the parliament in Canberra in what would have been a first for a Japanese leader.