Clinton Meets Japan Leader for First Time : Diplomacy: They have ‘good chemistry’ but make little progress on economic problems.

President Clinton and Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, two reform-minded politicians, seemed to become friends quickly Monday. But in their first face-to-face meeting, they made little progress in resolving the festering economic problems that plague the world’s richest nations.

“The chemistry was extremely good between the two leaders,” a senior U.S. official said after Clinton and Hosokawa met for 75 minutes, a quarter of an hour longer than planned, in their first formal get-together since Japan’s coalition government took office in August.

Clinton said of himself and the prime minister: “We are both former governors. We were both elected by our countries with a mandate for change. Our two peoples recognized instinctively that we’ve entered a watershed period in our history, when both Japan and the United States must make changes that are long overdue.”

Hosokawa, making his first visit to the United States as prime minister, said of Clinton, “I believe we have a lot in common with each other.”

But on specific economic issues, they made no more progress than has come to be expected from American and Japanese leaders with far less personal rapport. And the priority that both men put on establishing a friendship apparently precluded tough talk about trade or anything else.

“There was no disagreement on any specific issues or overall problems,” Hosokawa said. “We really saw eye to eye.”

Clinton and Hosokawa reaffirmed the “framework agreement” that Clinton signed last July with Hosokawa’s predecessor, Kiichi Miyazawa. It calls for new steps to lower trade barriers between the two countries.

But, as with the July talks, the American and Japanese leaders did not set numerical targets for Japan to reduce its huge trade imbalance with the United States. Experts on U.S.-Japan relations have said that little progress can be expected until the countries come to grips with selection of specific targets.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher complained that not enough concrete progress has been made in the trade talks and expressed hope that the negotiations will get back on track before Clinton and Hosokawa meet again in November at a Seattle summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation council.

Hosokawa and Clinton met after each addressed the opening session of the U.N. General Assembly.

In his speech, Hosokawa described the political changes that brought him to power as “part of the dramatic changes in the international community since the end of the East-West confrontation.” He said his government was initiating political, economic and administrative reforms that “are vital in strengthening Japan’s bonds with the international community.”

In a reference to World War II, fought while Hosokawa was an infant and before Clinton was born, the prime minister expressed Japan’s “sense of remorse” over hardships caused by Japanese militarism. Unlike his predecessors who tried to avoid the subject, Hosokawa has previously expressed the regret of his government for wartime aggression.