Cheney meets with Japanese PM

TOKYO -- Vice President Dick Cheney was pledging U.S. support to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in pressing ahead with plans to double Japan's noncombat forces in Iraq despite the furor over the abduction of three citizens, U.S. officials said Sunday.\nThe kidnapping of the Japanese civilians by Iraqi militants cast a pall over Cheney's visit to Japan, his first stop on a week-long trip to Asia that is also taking the vice president to China and South Korea.\nCheney attended Easter services with his wife, Lynne, at a nondenominational English-speaking Protestant church in Tokyo.\nAfter a stop at the U.S. Embassy early Monday, Cheney headed for a meeting with Koizumi and other officials, with the kidnappings expected to come up. "I want to thank all of you on behalf of the United States for what you do day in and day out," Cheney told embassy workers.\nThe captors originally said they would kill the three captives if Japan did not pull its forces out by Sunday. Later, the kidnappers indicated they had decided to release their captives.\nBy early Sunday afternoon in Tokyo, a senior government official said there was still no word of a release. Japan has refused to pull out its troops, but the nation is deeply divided on its presence in Iraq.\nCheney was "keeping in close touch with the White House and Bush administration officials, monitoring the developments in Iraq and elsewhere," spokesman Kevin Kellems said.\nThe vice president is asking Japan and South Korea, which both have troops in Iraq, to stay the course.\nMeanwhile, a report by the Arab TV station Al-Arabiya insurgents kidnapped seven Chinese north of Fallujah, Iraq Sunday evening, citing Chinese diplomatic sources, could further complicate Cheney's trip.\nCheney was to be in Beijing Tuesday. U.S. officials said they had no information on the report, and that Iraq already was expected to be high on Cheney's agenda in China.\nJapan has about 530 ground troops in the southern Iraqi city of Samawah, part of a total planned deployment of 1,100 soldiers for humanitarian and other reconstruction tasks.