TOKYO, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda delivered a key foreign policy speech Thursday, calling on Asia-Pacific nations to jointly build a network to better prepare for disasters and pandemics such as earthquakes, tsunami and bird flu.

    Fukuda said that Japan will take the initiatives to boost further development in the Asia-Pacific region and pursue a foreign policy on disaster management cooperation in the wake of the devastating earthquake in China and the cyclone that hit Myanmar.

    He said that a certain mechanism, along with the network, should be created to enable immediate and coordinated disaster relief operations in the event of a massive disaster.

    The Japanese prime minister also made "five commitments" on Asia's development -- to support ASEAN's effort to build a community by 2015, reinforce the Japan-U.S. alliance to maintain the stability in Asia and the Pacific, make Japan a peace-making nation, promote human exchanges in the Asia-Pacific region, and strive to tackle climate change.