Press Conference by the Press Secretary 5 March, 1999
- On the announcement by the United States of America on customs action on European imports
- Visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Ayala Lasso of the Republic of Ecuador from 15 to 18 March
- Assistance from Japan to rehabilitate the economy of Malaysia
- Significance of visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Ayala Lasso of the Republic of Ecuador from 15 to 18 March
- Statement by Director General Hosei Norota of the Defense Agency at the Diet
- Assistance from Japan in response to the Asian economic crisis
- Visit to Japan by President Eduard Shevardnadze of the Republic of Georgia and Japan's Silk Road diplomacy
- Japan-Republic of Iraq relations
- Japan-Republic of India economic relations
- Japan-Cuba relations
- Transportation of nuclear waste from the French Republic to Japan
- Visit to the Middle East by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura
- Source of support for North Korean technology
- On the announcement by the United States of America on customs action on European imports
Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: Good afternoon. I would like to make a few announcements. First, concerning the dispute between the United States and the European Union (EU) concerning bananas, the Government of Japan very much regrets that the Government of the United States has decided to begin withholding liquidation, effective 3 March 1999, on selected products from the EU, thereby causing an effect equivalent to the United States taking a unilateral action, despite the fact that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has not authorized the United States to suspend concessions. The Government of Japan hopes that an amicable resolution of the dispute will be obtained between the United States and the EU, in accordance with the rules of the WTO.
Related Information (WTO)
- Visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Ayala Lasso of the Republic of Ecuador from 15 to 18 March
Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: My second announcement is concerning the visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Ayala Lasso of Ecuador. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lasso, accompanied by his wife and a suite, will visit Japan as a guest of Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura, from 15 to 18 March. During his stay in Japan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayala will meet with Foreign Minister Koumura, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura, Diet members and people from Government-affiliated organizations. Since assuming his present post in March 1997, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ayala has played a central role in solving Ecuador's border issue with Peru, which had been a long-standing concern since last century, and a historic final agreement was reached on 26 October last year. The last visit by a Foreign Minister of Ecuador took place four years ago when Minister for Foreign Affairs Galo Leoro Franco came to Japan in May 1995. Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayala visited Japan in 1994 as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR).
Related Information (Japan-Ecuador Relations)
- Assistance from Japan to rehabilitate the economy of Malaysia
Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: I would also like to give you some information concerning our Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan to Malaysia. The Government of Japan has decided to extend to the Government of Malaysia an ODA loan of up to 107.695 billion yen for its five projects, including the Look East Policy Project, to positively assist its efforts for social and economic development. Notes to this effect were exchanged on 3 March between Ambassador Issei Nomura, Ambassador to Malaysia, and Second Finance Minister Mustapa bin Mohamed of Malaysia.
In relation to this, I would like to make some comments. The total amount of this yen loan of 107.695 billion yen is, on a yearly basis, the largest amount which Japan extends to Malaysia. This is within the context of our Japanese assistance to the ailing Asian economies. In this context, I distributed some materials to you that the Japanese Government has until now announced approximately US$ 80 billion for assistance for the Asian countries and up to now we have materialized approximately US$ 57 billion among this US$ 80 billion announcement of our intention. As you might know, in a series of announcements which were made last autumn, in the New Miyazawa Initiative we announced our willingness to assist the Asian countries by extending medium-term, long-term and also short-term credit to those countries. In addition to that, we also expressed our readiness to assist those Asian countries in providing guarantees to the governments when they issue some bonds in the international markets. For that purpose, we also expressed our readiness to donate US$ 3 billion to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and so on. We also introduced a new scheme for yen loans. The New Miyazawa Initiative has been materialized quite a lot and this Initiative shall be undertaken in two years. We have already been able to materialize nearly half of the total amount but for other new ideas, we need to really breakdown the idea and really introduce concrete measures for that purpose. We are steadily undertaking this assistance to the Asian countries and this yen loan to Malaysia is one of our latest steps. There is also another handout which explains the materialized Japanese assistance to the Asian countries and you can see the details of what we have done and what we are going to do. These five projects to be extended to Malaysia are included in this list. There are also some projects which have already been announced in a very concrete manner but for which we still need an exchange of notes. This is the present standing of our assistance to the Asian countries.
Related Information (Japan-Malaysia Relations)
- Significance of visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Jose Ayala Lasso of the Republic of Ecuador from 15 to 18 March
Q: Concerning the visit of the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, are there any present projects in mind? What is the purpose of the visit? Are there any pressing things between Japan and Ecuador?
Mr. Okada: As you know, Japan is one of the top donors to Ecuador. I have not been informed so far that we have any concrete projects to announce at this visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayala. However, we would like to exchange our opinions and intentions to further proceed with our cooperation. As I explained at the outset, we very much appreciate the personal initiative and the expertise of Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayala in handling issues, such as the border dispute with Peru. He was also very active as the High Commissioner of the UNHCHR. Therefore, we would like to strengthen our bilateral relations with Ecuador through this visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Ayala. We are also going to discuss many other items such as the international situations and also the regional situation in the Pacific basin and so on.
Q: Will the Panama Canal be involved in the talks?
Mr. Okada: I have not been specifically informed by the people concerned, but it might be included. However, I cannot assure you.
Related Information (Japan-Ecuador Relations)
- Statement by Director General Hosei Norota of the Defense Agency at the Diet
Q: Regarding security issues, recently the Director of the Defense Agency, Mr. Norota, said that the Japanese Constitution allows Japan to attack other countries first in case it is threatened. I would like to know the position of the Government on this point, and then if you can please comment on how does kind of comment made by Mr. Norota impact the balance of the region, because there could be some tension, especially with North Korea.
Mr. Okada: There is a sort of simplification of the debates in the media. I think what Director General Norota of the Defense Agency explained in the Diet is not different from what we have been explaining to the public in the past. In order to mobilize the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF), there are some conditions under the Japanese Constitution. We have been explaining that there are three conditions. The first one is there is an imminent and unlawful attack against Japan. The second is there are no other appropriate measures to eliminate or deter this attack. The third condition is the use of force shall be the minimum possible. Those are the three conditions we understand under the Japanese Constitution, in particular Article 9. That means if there is no imminent and unlawful attack against Japan, we cannot resort to the right of self-defense. Force is excluded in that case. What Director General Norota explained in the Diet is the meaning of imminent and unlawful attack. It certainly is not limited to the case where an attack already happened and some damage has already been caused in Japan. When a certain country already started its attack against Japan, we are in a position to respond to that attack. That is what we have been explaining in this respect. The preemptive defense where there is no imminent and unlawful attack itself, we cannot strike other countries by way of using force. However, as I told you, this imminent and unlawful attack is not limited to the real damage case. That is what Director General Norota explained in the Diet.
Q: It does not mean that Japan will attack first?
Mr. Okada: When there is an imminent and unlawful attack against Japan, under Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, Japan is allowed to take counter attack measures. But that does not mean that we can undertake some sort of preemptive attack against other countries when there is no such imminent danger or imminent attack.
Q: How do evaluate that this or that attack is imminent?
Mr. Okada: It depends on the situation. I cannot tell you very completely now. Maybe we have to wait and see when that kind of situation really happens. We have to judge whether a certain situation really constitutes an imminent attack against us or not. That is rather a theoretical issue because if we really need to judge whether the present situation is this imminent attack or an unlawful attack or not, for that purpose we need intelligence. For the time being, we do not have any proof for that. In case we find some imminent attack on Japan, Japan does not have any possibility to counter that kind of attack for the time being because we have no weapons to attack the territories of other countries. That is another issue. What Director General Norota has explained in the Diet is just a theoretical review of the present Japanese legal situation.
Q: But there are great concerns in Asia. Every time a comment like this is made, in China or South Korea there is some kind of tension.
Mr. Okada: I think they should not have any concern if they have no intention to attack Japan.
Related Information (Security)
- Assistance from Japan in response to the Asian economic crisis
Q: The measures at the end of this handout regarding the socially vulnerable, human resources, foreign students -- do these all fall under the category of already disbursed?
Mr. Okada: The numerous projects and items which are there have already been disbursed. Some of them have not been disbursed, though very concrete steps are just now being taken. For bracket 6, we already donated that amount to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Solidarity Fund.
Q: How about number 5 on foreign students?
Mr. Okada: In most cases, we already used this amount. This letter (b), the Look East policy Project, this is what we had in this exchange of notes the other day. For the second tiret, the Higher Education Loan Fund Project, we are still in the process of preparation of this for that purpose.
Q: I thought that in some respects the aid to foreign students was being decreased.
Mr. Okada: The aid budget, I think, for FY1998, was reduced by 10% or so. However we later found the need to assist the Asian countries. This credit by the Export-Import Bank of Japan is not ODA, therefore that is on top of this ODA assistance to those countries. All in all, I cannot give you a definite answer but I think Japan's assistance in many countries has not been reduced. Rather, in many cases, it increased from last year.
- Visit to Japan by President Eduard Shevardnadze of the Republic of Georgia and Japan's Silk Road diplomacy
Q: President Shevardnadze of Georgia has visited Japan. I read that that it is part of the Silk Road diplomacy. So is this diplomacy oil- and energy-oriented?
Mr. Okada: Roughly speaking, there are three elements to our Silk Road diplomacy; the first is these countries along the old Silk Road on the Asian continent are all newly-independent countries. They are also the neighbors to such very important countries as China, Russia and the region of the Middle East. We think those Silk Road countries have a geopolitical importance for the stability and prosperity of the whole Eurasian continent. From this viewpoint, we attach very much importance to those areas and as you said, we also have considerations concerning the raw materials, which are very much abundant there, including oil and other mineral resources. Thirdly, Japanese have an especially emotional attachment to these Silk Road areas. That comes from the historical background. We would also like to enhance our cultural relations with those countries. Therefore, political economic and cultural considerations exist in the Silk Road diplomacy.
Q: Can you give us an idea of the results of this visit by the President of Georgia?
Mr. Okada: We recently received quite many important visitors from those countries. We had the visit of President Askar Akaev of Kyrgyzstan. We also received President Heydor Aliyev of Azerbaijan. Chairman Utkur Sultanov of the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan also came to Japan two years ago and so on. From our side, unfortunately not many ministers have visited, but two years ago the then-Minister of International Trade and Industry Shinji Sato visited those areas. In August last year, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Keizo Takemi visited Tajikistan. We would like to enhance our exchange of high-level officials with those countries. As I told you, these countries are rather newly-independent ones and our canvas of the painting has a lot of white space, and we just started to put paint there.
Related Information (Japan-Georgia Relations)
- Japan-Republic of Iraq relations
Q: It seems that Iraq is applying a trade embargo against Japanese companies. A report last week said that Iraq will ban Japanese companies and companies from other countries from trade deals. What is the Japanese official position toward this?
Mr. Okada: I do not exactly know what media report you just quoted means. However, as far as I understand, we introduced this oil for food resolution a few years ago in order to alleviate the plight of the Iraqi people. The first United Nations resolution was adopted in the year 1996 and thereafter a series of resolutions were adopted to continue the same program of the oil for food and in that context, from the second resolution onward, that is Resolution 1111 in 1997 and thereafter, the Japanese companies were not able to import oil from Iraq. That means Japanese companies were discriminated against by the Iraqi side in the their purchase of oil. We hear the Iraqi side did that because it deemed Japan's position towards the United Nations sanctions against Iraq too severe and also the overall Japanese attitude to Iraq was not favorable enough for them. Therefore they decided to exclude Japanese companies. We have been continuously telling the Iraqi side that the fair distribution of Iraqi oil to be exported is very important. We also asked the Iraqi side to treat Japanese companies in a fair manner. If the Japanese companies are discriminated against in the export of oil from Iraq under these United Nations resolutions, we warned the Iraqi side that it would have a negative effect on the improvement of bilateral relations between Iraq and Japan in the future and urged the Iraqi side to take a reasonable stance and measures in this respect. Iraq has been sticking to its position until now. That is our understanding. Not only Japan, but some other countries are excluded from being recipients of the Iraqi oil exports.
Related Information (Japan-Iraq Relations)
- Japan-Republic of India economic relations
Q: The Asahi Shimbun had a story today that says that the US is changing its policy to improve its relations with India and Pakistan. What is Japan doing to normalize its economic relations with India except dictating some terms and conditions to India? Is there any plan to send a high official to India for talks?
Mr. Okada: In our relations with India, we do not have any sanction measures related to trade policy or commercial relations. What we stopped is the new assistance to India. We are closely cooperating with other like-minded countries on how to cope with this nuclear non-proliferation issue on the Indian sub-continent. We think we can continue this consultation and if the positive steps to be taken by the Indian side are confirmed by our side, we can take positive measures vis-a-vis India. As you well know, we restarted our consultation with the Indian side quite recently and we think we now have a very amicable and very positive atmosphere that we can further continue these types of consultations with the Indian side. During the course of the consultation, we can also handle the non-proliferation issue and also the missile launch and so on. The deadlock is not there anymore. We restarted our talks with the Indian side and we hope that we can further enhance our relations with the positive reaction from the Indian side.
Related Information (Japan-India Relations)
- Japan-Cuba relations
Q: Up until last month, Japan and Cuba had relations that were really very loose in the sense that the situation has prevailed in Cuba for so many years. But since last month apparently things changed a little, and my question is which way are these relations going? Are they becoming closer to Cuba, separating from the Cuba-US problem, or following its own line or what?
Mr. Okada: I think I explained Japan-Cuba relations a few weeks ago. We see that there was a sort of drastic change concerning Cuba at the beginning of last year. One significant event was the visit by the Pope to Cuba. Also relations with other countries have been improving and we think that Cuba, which was thought to be a sort of threat to the surrounding countries at one time, is not a threat anymore to the international society. We understand that we can develop our cordial relations with the Cuban side. We do not have any sanction measures against Cuba. Relations between Japan and Cuba were just normal relations even during a very difficult time. A few years ago, President Fidel Castro of Cuba came to Japan. Two years ago, when we had a very difficult case with the occupation of our embassy in Lima, we had very courteous support from the Cuban side. We think the overall environment for Cuba is improving at this moment. We would also like to enhance our relations with Cuba. This visit by Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina Gonzalez of Cuba has improved our relations.
Related Information (Japan-Cuba Relations)
- Transportation of nuclear waste from the French Republic to Japan
Q: Nuclear fuel is coming from France, apparently through the Panama Canal. This is also a change from what happened during the first shipment that had to go way around the continent away from any territorial problems until it reached Japan. Is this a change, and does it have the approval of the Panamanian Government?
Mr. Okada: Regarding the nuclear waste, last week a ship left a French port and headed to Japan carrying nuclear waste. We announced already that the ship is going through the Panama Canal and it will reach Japan some time in the middle of April. This is nuclear waste which is not dangerous. That is what we have been transporting many times on many routes. This is not nuclear fuel which can also be used in nuclear reactors. It is waste which shall be handled for final disposal somewhere in Japan. In that context, we have not changed any policy.
- Visit to the Middle East by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura
Q: Could you brief us about the results of the visit of Mr. Machimura to the Middle East?
Mr. Okada: State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura left on 27 February, stopping first in Turkey. He already visited Turkey, Jordan, Israel and areas under the Palestinian Authority. This morning he is supposed to leave for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. He met Prime Minister Bhlent Ecevit and the Vice Prime Minister in Ankara and he also paid a courtesy call to Foreign Minister Ismail Cem. In Amman, he paid a courtesy call to the new King, His Majesty King Abdullah bin el Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He was present at the signing of the exchange of notes for grant assistance to Jordan. He then went to Israel and paid a courtesy call to President Ezer Weizman of Israel and visited Japan's Self-Defense Forces in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights. That is what he has done until now. In the meetings with the Turkish leaders, he exchanged views on bilateral relations and our assistance, on the domestic situation in Turkey and the regional situation, including Iraq and so on. In Jordan, the main thing was our explanation to the Jordanian side to continue our support to Jordan and we signed this 3 billion yen non-project grant assistance for the purpose of assisting the balance of payment position of Jordan.
Q: In Turkey, did he have talks about the destiny of the PKK leader, Mr. Ocalan, who was arrested in Turkey?
Mr. Okada: That was also one of the topics he discussed there. We understand that the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, is suspected of being responsible for terrorist acts. The Government of Turkey states that it guarantees a fair judicial process will be followed. In this context, State Secretary Machimura said to the Turkish leaders that a fair judicial process shall be followed in Turkey. The response from the Turkish side was that the judicial process is to be followed in a neutral and fair manner by the independent judiciary and that there is no doubt about this. That is what the Turkish side explained to us. In addition to that, they explained to us that the Government of Turkey well understands that this is a very sensitive issue which is also being watched very carefully by the international community. Therefore, the Government handles this based on this understanding.
Q: According to some reports, it is understood that Mr. Arafat told Mr. Machimura indirectly that he might not declare a Palestinian state in May. Do you have any confirmation about this?
Mr. Okada: State Secretary Machimura said to President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority that Japan supports the right of self-determination of the Palestinians, including the establishment of their own state, but the unilateral declaration for independence shall be refrained from for the time being. We hope that President Arafat continues to try to solve this issue through dialogue. President Arafat highly evaluated the Japanese positions. Concerning the end of the self-government period of the Palestinians on 4 May, he understands that the issue of independence of the Palestinians is very important and at the same time a very sensitive issue. Therefore, he would like to proceed with this matter very carefully in consultation with the countries concerned. That is what they discussed about the independence of the Palestinians. In addition to that, State Secretary Machimura explained our assistance to the Palestinians and our readiness to host a conference in Tokyo concerning support for the Palestinians and so on. We exchanged opinions concerning the Middle East peace process.
Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
- Source of support for North Korean technology
Q: Do you have any idea how North Korea gets technology and money for its missiles and nuclear projects?
Mr. Okada: We would like to get an answer from you. It is not so easy for us to understand what is happening in North Korea. There are many different types of information and speculation in the media but we have no information to confirm anything about that.
Related Information (North Korea's Missile Launch)
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