Press Conference by the Press Secretary 15 December 1995

Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono to the People's Republic of China
Acting Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ken Shimanouchi: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I think you have already heard that Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono will be visiting the People's Republic of China from 18-20 December. He will be having talks with his counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Qian Qichen of the People's Republic of China, and other Chinese leaders.

Q: On the timing of Foreign Minister Kono's trip to China - - I guess it was decided quite a long time ago. But, will he be taking any message of protest about China's imprisonment of the dissident Wei Jingsheng? Will that be mentioned at all?

A: The agenda of the visit is still being discussed, and we do not know exactly what will be discussed. Basically, that is a decision for Foreign Minister Kono to make -- what to raise, or what not to raise with the Chinese.

Q: Do you expect him to raise that?

A: I do not want to speculate on that.
Recent visit to Japan by President Fidel Castro of the Republic of Cuba
Q: My question is about the last trip by President Castro of Cuba. There was a report that the United States was not happy about this trip and the meeting between Prime Minister Murayama and President Castro. Can you confirm that? Also, there was another report that Japan was going to give10 million yen in grant-in-aid to Cuba. How about that?

A: With regard to the report -- we have also seen that report in one Japanese newspaper. We have not confirmed that report. So, I do not think I had better comment on what the White House Spokesman may or may not have said. But regarding the visit -- in general terms, Japan and the United States of America are very close allies, and we compare notes on a routine basis on a broad range of issues. President Castro's visit to Japan was discussed between the two Governments, but I cannot disclose the details of these discussions. But I can tell you that the Government of the United States has never raised any objection to President Castro's visit to Japan, or his meeting with Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. The second question with regard to grant-in-aid -- we have never given grant assistance to the Government of the Republic of Cuba, and we have no plans to give grant assistance to Cuba. However, we are considering the possibility of giving assistance under what we call the Grant Assistance for Grass Roots Projects Scheme. Under the scheme, what we usually do is give subsidies directly to NGOs in a foreign country, and not to the Government of that country. Usually, the scale of these projects is on the order of several million yen, small-scale projects, usually in the field of social development, humanitarian areas. We hope that the extension of such grass roots assistance would be conducive to promoting reform in Cuba.

Q: Is it customary that when the leader of a one party State comes to Japan that he receives an admonition from the prime minister, or whichever official he happens to meet with, that his country should move towards multi-party democracy and should improve human rights? Is this customary? Or was President Castro treated a bit differently because of the long-standing tensions with the United States?

A: I think it is inappropriate to generalize. In this case, I think you have already heard about the contents of the discussions which President Castro had with Prime Minister Murayama, and also Foreign Minister Kono, and you characterized what Prime Minister Murayama and Foreign Minister Kono said as an "admonition" --.

Q: Could we use a softer word? I just couldn't think of another one.

A: What we did is convey to President Castro a message which we believed it was appropriate for us to convey, taking advantage of his visit. We think that his visit, although it was short, was a very meaningful visit. We have been seeking to enhance political dialogue with Cuba; we are of the belief that in order to further develop bilateral ties between Japan and Cuba, it is necessary for Cuba not just to undertake economic reform, but also to promote democracy in the country, and particularly to make improvements in the human rights area. We took advantage of President Castro's visit to convey this message to the Cuban side. In that sense, we thought it was a very meaningful visit.

Q: There are two follow-up questions I can think of. They are both completely unrelated. The first one would be: will this same message be taken to China by Foreign Minister Kono?

A: Again, I do not want to speculate on what Foreign Minister Kono will be discussing with Chinese leaders. With respect to human rights in China in general -- as you know, Japan is of the position that human rights is a universal value which is shared by the entire international community. We believe that every member of the international community should make constant efforts to fully realize human rights. On past occasions, we have conveyed to China this position of ours. We have also told them that a positive approach to human rights by China would help the development of China's ties with the rest of the world. That is the position that we have been taking on the question of human rights in China.

Q: Has that message also included in the past the development of a multi-party, democratic State, as well as human rights?

A: In the past? This is the gist of what we have been saying to China in the past. I do not have with me a readout of all past discussions that we have had with China.

Q: The other question comes back to Cuba. From this trip, did there emerge any meaningful potential for Japan to play a sort of role as a mediator in helping the United States and Cuba to resolve their long-standing differences?

A: Are you interested in past examples of that?

Q: Has anything new emerged in dialogues with President Castro? Does Japan now see a greater potential than has existed to serve as a sort of neutral mediator between the United States and Cuba?

A: The possibility of Japan playing such a role has never been discussed with Cuba or the United States. It has never been discussed internally, for that matter. But generally speaking, we do hope that progress in the human rights area is made in Cuba, and that that will lead to better ties between Cuba and the United States. If in the future, there should arise a situation in which Japan might be able to play a useful role, we would be very glad to consider playing that role.

Q: Is the Japanese Government convinced that non- governmental organizations in Cuba are truly non- governmental organizations?

A: The non-governmental organization which we will be subsidizing under this scheme will have to be completely independent from the Government. That is an important criterion which we will be applying in implementing our grass roots assistance. At this moment, I cannot give any names of specific organizations in Cuba.

Q: But, the Government of Japan does believe they exist?

A: Yes. We are exploring the possibility of subsidizing an independent NGO in Cuba. We do believe that there is a possibility that such organizations exist in Cuba.
Recent incident at a Japanese nuclear facility
Q: There was an accident at the fast breeder reactor, and I am wondering whether any foreign governments have inquired about the case, or protested about the case, or offered some kind of assistance to the Government of Japan on a government level.

A: I am not aware of any contacts between our Government and foreign governments on this matter. But let me check and get back to you on that.

Q: Is the Japanese Government planning to explain exactly what happened regarding this nuclear incident to the foreign governments?

A: That again, I will have to check. I will get back to you on that point, too.

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