Press Conference by Press Sec. 17 March 1995

1. Visit to Japan by General Secretary of the Communist Party Do Muoi of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
2. Dispatch of High Level Mission on Economic and Technical Cooperation to the Republic of India
3. Chemical weapons in storage in the People's Republic of China since World War II

1. Visit to Japan by General Secretary of the Communist Party Do Muoi of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

   Foreign Ministry Spokesman Terusuke Terada: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I should like to say that I welcome the visitors from the Russian Federation. I wish I could conduct my briefing session in Russian, but I cannot. General Secretary of the Communist Party Do Muoi of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam will pay an official visit to Japan from 17 to 21 April. The Government of Japan sincerely welcomes the visit of General Secretary Do Muoi, which will further strengthen the friendly relations existing between Japan and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

2. Dispatch of High Level Mission on Economic and Technical Cooperation to the Republic of India

   Foreign Ministry Spokesman Terusuke Terada: The Government of Japan will dispatch a High Level Mission on Economic and Technical Cooperation to the Republic of India from 26 March to 2 April. The mission will be led by Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshio Hatano, former Ambassador to the United Nations. The Mission will be composed of 11 relevant ministries and agencies, together with advisers from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) and the Export-Import Bank of Japan. The mission will exchange views on India's socioeconomic development plan and its current economic situation and problems, in order to further improve Japan's economic cooperation with that country. It will also hold a high level policy dialogue with the Indian Government on the basic direction of Japan's future assistance, priority areas, etc., from medium- and long-term perspectives. This is the second mission to India since 1989. May I simply add that Japan has been the top donor to India since 1986, except the year 1990.

3. Chemical weapons in storage in the People's Republic of China since World War II

   Q: I think your counterpart at the Chinese Embassy said at a news conference yesterday that China wanted Japan to take quick measures to see that it resolved the problem of Japanese military in World War II. My question is: have you had any discussions with the Chinese Government on your position? If you have, could you perhaps give us some of the details of what was discussed?

   A: I am quite aware of the news which you referred to. We do not have any official communication from the Government of the People's Republic of China on this matter. But let me tell you that we sent a mission to China, with which you should be quite familiar. This mission was sent through a very close cooperation with the Chinese Government, and by sending this mission, we could identify certain areas where we found chemical weapons abandoned by the Imperial Japanese Army. Perhaps you should know that we have to continue the discussion on this subject with the Chinese authorities, and we have to locate and identify the areas in which other abandoned chemical weapons might be discovered. I think this is an ongoing business between the Governments of Japan and China.