Press Conference by the Press Secretary 15 November 1996

Ambassador Nobuo Matsunaga's recent trip to the Middle East
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ken Shimanouchi: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the regular Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference. Before I take your questions, I would like to tell you about Ambassador Nobuo Matsunaga's recent trip to the Middle East. As some of you may have already heard, earlier this week Ambassador Matsunaga visited the Middle East as the special envoy of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. On 11 November, he had a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak of the Arab Republic of Egypt. The following day, 12 November, he had a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the State of Israel, followed by a meeting with Chairman of the PLO Yasser Arafat. Let me give you, in a nutshell, the message that the special envoy, Ambassador Matsunaga, conveyed to these leaders. Ambassador Matsunaga expressed the concern of the Government of Japan over the critical situation that the Middle East Peace Process now finds itself in. He said that the Middle East Peace Process must move forward in view of the fact that discontent is mounting among the Palestinian people. He said that Japan will continue to make contributions to advancing the Middle East Peace Process, and he called on the parties to the Palestinian track -- the Israelis and the Palestinians -- to make maximum efforts to bring about improvements in the current situation. All of the leaders that he met with were highly appreciative of Japan's contribution to the Middle East Peace Process by sending a special envoy to the region. That, in a nutshell, is what Ambassador Matsunaga conveyed to the Middle Eastern leaders. That is the announcement that I wanted to make, and I will be delighted to respond to any questions that you might have.
Possible accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the People's Republic of China
Q: As you may know, the Philippine President Ramos recently interviewed with a Japanese newspaper and said he would propose that Taipei and Peking be simultaneously affiliated with the WTO. What are your views on this? Does Japan share the same opinion?

A: I am not aware of the exact wording or details of what President Fidel Valdez Ramos of the Republic of the Philippines told the press in this interview. As you know, Japan is extremely supportive of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and this has been expressed repeatedly at the highest levels of the Government of Japan.
Japanese economic cooperation with the People's Republic of China
Q: Do you think the Japan-China bilateral meeting at APEC will become difficult now that, according to today's Nikkei newspaper, the LDP has rejected the resumption of grant-aid loans to China?

A: The possibility of setting up a meeting between Prime Minister Hashimoto and President General Jiang Zemin of the People's Republic of China, and also the possibility of setting up a meeting between the two foreign ministers, is now being discussed. No decision has been made. This can be said for a large number of possible bilateral meetings between the Japanese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and foreign leaders. The only meeting that has been agreed upon to date is the Prime Minister's meeting with President William Clinton of the United States of America. The bilateral meetings are still being coordinated between the Japanese side and the other parties. With regard to the Japanese economic cooperation with China, as you know, it is Japan's policy to support China's reform and open door policy. Japan's economic assistance for China is a central element of this policy. Yesterday, in the meeting which you referred to, approval was given by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to move forward with the dispatch of a survey mission, and other procedures for the implementation of yen loans for China. With regard to grants in aid, we will be considering the resumption of grant aid, which was suspended when China conducted nuclear tests. Now that China has declared a moratorium on nuclear testing, we will be considering the resumption of the grant assistance in consultation with the LDP.

Q: My understanding was that Foreign Minister Ikeda actually came out for the resumption right now, so if "rejection" is too strong a word, I don't know, but what the LDP decided at this meeting yesterday -- did this come as a surprise to you? That they did not grant whole-hearted approval at this time?

A: I am not at liberty to discuss with you the contents of the dialogue of the meeting yesterday, because this was a political party meeting. However, the position of the Government of Japan, regarding the resumption of grants in aid is, as I have said, that we will be considering this in consultation with the Liberal Democratic Party.
The upcoming APEC Meeting in the Philippines and Japan's Individual Action Plan
Q: What will be the main contribution Japan hopes to make at this APEC Meeting in Subic?

A: I believe that question can be answered better by the next briefer.

Q: Can you make any statement at all? Would it be trade, would it be investment? Surely the country that held the last APEC --.

A: The upcoming APEC Meeting in the Philippines will be a very important meeting, as it will be the first truly action-oriented meeting for APEC. Last year in Osaka, the Osaka Action Agenda was adopted. The purpose of this agenda was to translate the goals set forth in the Bogor Declaration into real actions. The Manila Meeting will be a meeting in which a complete set of actions will be announced. One of the important elements which we expect will come out of the Manila Meeting will be the Individual Action Plans. All of the members have submitted their initial Individual Action Plans to the Chair, the Government of the Philippines, which is now in the process of compiling these Individual Action Plans. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to discuss the contents of Japan's Action Plan, or the Action Plans of any other countries, except to say that in regard to Japan's Individual Action Plan, we have put everything into it that we can at this present stage. We think that it will be a very good, substantive Action Plan.

Q: Does it contain anything beyond what was submitted as an Action Plan in Osaka last year, or is it just a matter of a schedule of implementation for those measures? In other words, are you bringing anything more to the table? Is that what "everything into it" means?

A: I am not at liberty to discuss the contents.

Q: No, no, but can we expect anything new?

A: You probably already know about the process. All of the Members submitted their initial draft to the Chair in May. All of the Members have commented on the Action Plans of other countries, so this has been an interactive process. The result of this process is what the Chair has now. Thank you very much.

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