Top > Announcement > Press Conference by Foreign Minister > September 7, 2012

(* This is a provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only. The original text is in Japanese.)

Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba

Date: Friday, September 7, 2012, 9:20 a.m.
Place: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Main topics:

  1. Opening Remarks
    • (1) Visits to Vladivostok, Russia
    • (2) The FY2013 budget request
  2. Japan-Russia relations
  3. Japan-ROK and Japan-China relations
  4. Proposal made by Japan Akademeia
  5. Japan-ROK and Japan-China relations

1. Opening Remarks

(1) Visits to Vladivostok, Russia

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba: Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is scheduled to attend the APEC Leaders’ Meeting from Saturday, September 8, to Sunday, September 9. I attended the APEC Ministerial Meeting, returning yesterday. Using the opportunity of the Leaders’ Meeting, Prime Minister Noda will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Russia and other countries. For example, with Russia, there will be a very important summit, and we are also coordinating meetings with Singapore, Australia, and other countries. I believe that Prime Minister Noda will receive a courtesy call from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. I would like to attend these meetings, and it seems that the foreign ministers accompanying their leaders will attend the working dinner following the Leaders’ Meeting. For these reasons, in order to participate in the variety of types of opinion exchanges, I hope to leave for Vladivostok once again this evening.

There are not many examples of this kind of opportunity for Japan, but it seems that there are many countries whose foreign ministers always accompany their leaders. This is not often the case for Japan, but there are the reasons I noted a moment ago, and furthermore, I have been placing great importance on Russia. In that sense, I visited Sochi a while ago, and although it wasn’t really reported on much, I think I had an extremely good meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Mr. Shuvalov. I believe that a Japan-Russia Summit Meeting will be held, and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov will of course be attending this. I talked with Minister Lavrov three or four times in Vladivostok. At that time I also had an exchange of opinions during coffee breaks with foreign ministers from Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia, as well as a number of other people. I have decided that it is after all better to take the opportunity provided by multilateral meetings and accompany the Prime Minister this time. For these reasons, I will go again to Russia today.

(2) The FY2013 budget request

Minister Gemba: Today we are planning to submit our budget request for FY2013 to the Ministry of Finance. In crafting the budget request this time, in order to promote "substantial diplomacy," we paid special consideration to the "strategic and effective utilization of ODA" and "strengthening Japan’s presence in the world," contributing to realization of the Strategy for the Rebirth of Japan.

Within the FY2013 budget, so-called Special Funding has been earmarked for the special priority fields of the Strategy for the Rebirth of Japan. I worked on this during my time as Chair of the Policy Research Committee, and I hope to support the overseas operation of Japanese companies in the fields of energy, the environment and medical services through use of ODA. This is extremely important from the perspective of absorbing world growth. A while ago, I attended a meeting on the export of package-type infrastructure, and I am now actually having research done on what the synergistic effect of ODA is – for example, research into what impact a 100 billion yen loan overseas has on the creation of domestic demand. A certain effect is seen. As I am sure everyone is aware, yen loans are paid back to Japan. If we lend 100 billion yen, we receive 100 billion yen back – and there is a synergistic effect within Japan that far exceeds 100 billion yen. In that sense, I want to make good use of ODA to absorb growth throughout the world. In addition, as I said that, last year we began to reverse the trend of ODA budgets. I want to ensure this trend.

Moreover, in order to promote substantial diplomacy, enhancing our system for the implementation of diplomacy is necessary. Earlier, we mentioned the number, 150, and I would like to manage to expand the number of diplomatic missions and strengthen our personnel system.

2. Japan-Russia relations

Kikuchi, Nippon TV: I suppose that the Japan-Russia summit meeting will focus on the Northern Territories issue as one of the main topics. What results would you like to see from the meeting?

Minister Gemba: I want this meeting to be a prelude to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s visit to Russia. President Putin will meet leaders from many countries, but he sets aside much longer time for Japan. President Putin spares 20 minutes or so with the counterparts from other countries, but probably reserves about 40 to 45 minutes with us. The Russian government says they give Japan and another country special treatment. It is very important for the two countries to discuss substantive matters at the vice-ministerial, foreign-ministerial, and Prime-Minister levels. 40 to 45 minutes will not be enough for substantial discussions. So Japan will naturally discuss the territorial issues with Russia, but the most important goal for this meeting will be ensuring an opportunity for the next visit to Russia to engage in substantial discussions. When I met with Mr. Igor Shuvalov, I repeatedly emphasized the importance of respecting national sentiments and mutual trust. I will ask Prime Minister Noda to emphasize this point this time, too.

3. Japan-ROK and Japan-China relations

Kikuchi, Nippon TV: Does the Japanese Government plan to take this opportunity to have some interactions with China and the Republic of Korea?

Minister Gemba: I do not know about that now. If Cabinet members, including myself, are allowed to accompany Prime Minister Noda to the dinner, I may casually be able to exchange views with leaders from those countries.

Nishikawa, TBS: Do you mean that Japan is not coordinating with China and the Republic of Korea for any meetings at the APEC meeting’s margin aside from casual talks?

Minister Gemba: I cannot comment on detailed diplomatic interactions, but what you have said is basically correct. I will tell you that many leaders from other countries, setting China and the ROK, talked to me, and I, in turn, went to talk with many leaders at APEC as well. It was quite meaningful. In that sense, APEC offers valuable opportunities for us. This will be my second time to attend that.

Yoshida, Nishinippon Shimbun: What is the reason for the Japanese Government’s not requesting any official meetings with the counterparts from China or the ROK?

Minister Gemba: We need to comprehensively evaluate if having an official meeting with them will be beneficial to Japan. We need to decide what kinds of interactions will best serve the needs of each of the country. I am well aware of the importance of having communication with China and the ROK. However, we need to determine what kinds of channels we should choose for communication. There are several routes for diplomatic interactions, including official and unofficial communications. This time, I believe we should not choose official channels.

Yoshida, Nishinippon Shimbun: Hasn’t China or the ROK requested any official meetings with Japan this time?

Minister Gemba: I refrain from commenting on that since it is related to diplomatic interactions.

4. Proposal made by Japan Akademeia

Ikeda, Kyodo News: Some members of Japan Akademeia, where you made a speech the other day, compiled and announced an urgent proposal on the Diet reform. How do you evaluate this proposal, and could you once again explain your views on what kind of Diet reform serves the national interests of Japan?

Minister Gemba: I carefully read the proposal made by Japan Akademeia that you just mentioned. Simply put, I think their proposal is wonderful and there are many areas where I share the same view with them. What surprised me about the data was that Japanese Foreign Ministers spend about 10 times more days for attending Diet deliberations than counterparts in other advanced counties. I somehow noticed this as I talked with foreign ministers of other countries, but the number was a fresh surprise to me. There are many issues raised by the proposal, including the number of days Cabinet members and the Prime Minister spend attending Diet deliberations, relations between political leaders and governmental officials, and the simultaneous approval of budget and financial resources. These issues are very important regardless of party affiliation. At the end of the day, we need politics that ensures prosperity for our future generations, and we need to determine what we should do to maintain our prosperity. What politicians are required to work on now is to determine how we can build up the comprehensive strength of this country. To this end, we should reform what we should reform, including issues related to governance, government structure, and Government-Diet relations, beyond partisan differences. In that sense, the proposal is very important. It is very important that we reach out across party lines. I have a wealth of experience being an opposition party member. I began my career as a Diet lawmaker in a ruling party, then moved to an opposition party, and have been in my current position for two years and three months. Being in both ruling and opposition parties makes me recognize that we are finally facing an era when we need to go beyond partisan politics and work for the national interests of Japan through such initiatives as the Diet reform and relations between the Government and the Diet.

5. Japan-ROK and Japan-China relations

Matsuura, Yomiuri Shimbun: Do you see any possibilities of a Japan-China summit meeting at APEC this time? One more question: If the servicemen from the ROK actually lands on Takeshima for military training today, will Japan lodge a protest against the country?

Minister Gemba: I already mentioned the summit meeting between the two countries. I explained what summit meetings were being planned on the occasion of APEC. In relation to Takeshima, the ROK once planned to conduct trainings enabling its Marine Corps to land on the island, but I think the country has already cancelled the plan. I guess this is the training the ROK has been conducting on an annual basis. However, even if the training is conducted every year, for us, it is better that it not be conducted, and we have of course lodged protests on this with the ROK. If the ROK conducts such training in the future, we will deal with it appropriately. I want you to note that the training planned by the ROK this time involved a landing on Takeshima, which is something they have not done before. I believe that the ROK has already cancelled the plan.

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