Press Conference by the Press Secretary 26 March, 1999

1. Visit to Japan by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani of the State of Qatar from 18 to 21 April
2. Decision of the Government of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to make available suspects in the Lockerbie case to the United Nations
3. Position of Japan regarding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation in the the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
4. Status of the two unidentified vessels that entered Japanese territorial waters
5. Reported visit to Japan by President Yasser Arafat of the Palestine National Authority

1. Visit to Japan by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani of the State of Qatar from 18 to 21 April

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, I would like to make two brief statements concerning the Middle East. The first concerns the visit to Japan of His Highness Hamad of the State of Qatar. His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, accompanied by a suite, will pay an official working visit to Japan from Sunday, 18 April to Wednesday, 21 April 1999. During their stay in Japan, Amir Hamad will be received in Audience by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. His Majesty the Emperor will host a State luncheon in honor of Amir Hamad. The Government of Japan sincerely welcomes the visit of Amir Hamad which will further strengthen the friendly relations existing between Japan and Qatar. I would just like to add a few comments. This is the first visit of Amir Hamad to Japan and the first visit of a Head of State of Qatar in the last 15 years. As you might know, this visit is to reciprocate the visit by Their Imperial Highnesses the Crown Prince and Crown Princess to Qatar in 1994. At that time, they were cordially and heartily welcomed by Amir Hamad who was then Crown Prince of Qatar. We intend to take this opportunity to establish a relationship of mutual trust between the leaders of both countries and we also want to further deepen and widen our bilateral cooperation.

   Related Information (Japan-Qatar Relations)
   
2. Decision of the Government of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to make available suspects in the Lockerbie case to the United Nations

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: Another statement is related to Libya's position on the two Lockerbie suspects. On 19 March, the Government of Libya conveyed its decision to Secretary General Kofi Annan of the United Nations to make available the two suspects for him to take custody of. Ambassador Qin Huasun, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China and President of the United Nations Security Council, issued a statement on 23 March welcoming the decision. The Government of Japan welcomes the progress that has been made as a result of this decision and highly appreciates the patient efforts which all the parties concerned have made to achieve a breakthrough in the Lockerbie issue. Japan hopes that the United Nations sanctions currently imposed on Libya will be lifted as soon as all the conditions stipulated in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1192 are met.

   Related Information (Japan-Libya Relations)
   
3. Position of Japan regarding the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

   Q: The Japanese Government's statement said that it understands the NATO military operation against Yugoslavia. Why has Japan made no stronger statement of support?

   Mr. Okada: I understand that you have read the statement made by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura. As we explained in that statement, we very much understand the sincere and tireless diplomatic efforts made by the United States and other countries. We understand that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was rather obliged to use force in order to prevent the increase of victims of atrocities in the Kosovo region in light of the situation that the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia persisted in rejecting the peace agreement proposal and continued to take measures violating the United Nations Security Council Resolutions. We understand this NATO decision as a result of this use of force, and that these efforts have unfortunately not been successful.

   Q: Why is there not any stronger support?

   Mr. Okada: In light of the present situation, this is what we can say to this issue of Kosovo.

   Q: What kind of aid, if any, has been directed by Japan to the area which has been impacted by the NATO action?

   Mr. Okada: We do not extend aid directly to the people in Kosovo, but through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or other United Nations organizations for humanitarian assistance to those areas.

   Q: Do you have any numbers?

   Mr. Okada: Quite recently we extended assistance through international humanitarian organizations to the refugees and displaced persons in the former Yugoslavian area including Kosovo. We have been trying to assist nearby areas such as Macedonia and Albania in order to stabilize their domestic situations. Concerning this latest assistance from Japan to the former Yugoslavian areas, through the UNHCR and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and also the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), we decided to contribute emergency grant aid totaling about US$14.4 million in response to recent appeals from those organizations.

   Q: Is Japan doing anything to help the NATO attack on Yugoslavia?

   Mr. Okada: We are not consulted by NATO. We have no intention to assist the operation there.

   Q: For the first time since the end of the Second World War, Germany has attacked a sovereign nation, Yugoslavia. Can you think of a situation in which Japan might do the same?

   Mr. Okada: That is very much a hypothetical question. Germany has its own environment and its own relations with the countries concerned and its own considerations. We have different considerations, different historical and political settings. We have never thought of that.

   Q: I heard that America informed Japan 20 minutes before the strike. Why did Japan get this advance information and do you still get advance information about developments in the military situation there?

   Mr. Okada: We are being informed by the United States when the United States makes any very important decisions. We are a good ally of the United States and we find it very appropriate and very useful to get some information from the United States before the United States makes any very decisive decision.

   Q: Russia and China have been taking a very strong position on Kosovo. Japan understands the stance of NATO. However, Japan is not showing strong support for that. Is the opposition of Russia and China having any impact on the attitude of the Japanese Government?

   Mr. Okada: We have our own considerations. We have to take into consideration all the factors which are involved in these cases and draw our own conclusion from them. We hope that these differences of opinion between the important countries can be narrowed down through the debate in the United Nations Security Council. We are closely watching the debate in the Security Council as well.

4. Status of the two unidentified vessels that entered Japanese territorial waters

   Q: About the mysterious ships that fled in the direction of North Korea, I believe that the Japanese Government has asked North Korea to turn over the ships and crew. Could you give us more details as to what is going on?

   Mr. Okada: We are now trying to explain to the North Korean side and we would like to ask them to seize the suspected vessels and hand them over to Japan. We already did that in New York and we delivered a document to the representative of North Korea and through telephone dialogue we explained the content of our request to them. Their response to us was the following, that North Korea has nothing to do with this incident. Therefore there is no reason to receive this document from Japan. I am not sure whether we already did that or whether we are now trying to do that, but maybe we are also going to make a contact in Beijing with the North Korean side. I am not informed whether this already took place or not.

   Q: Do you have any idea what was the purpose of these two ships and why would North Korea send these kinds of ships toward Japan?

   Mr. Okada: These suspicious ships were in Japanese territorial water and we confirmed that the names which were painted on the ships were either deleted from the registration book or were other ships operating in another area in Japan. The necessary equipment for fishing was not on board and many different antennae were visible. We therefore understand that these are highly suspicious vessels, but we have no further information to be certain what kind of ships they are. We think that there is a possibility that these ships were intelligence vessels of certain countries, but we do not know whether they belong to North Korea or to some other country. Therefore, we cannot answer your question.

   Q: Do you think that this latest incident will change the approach of Japan towards North Korea of convincing them to solve the problems between the two countries?

   Mr. Okada: As I told you, we have not made the decision that these two ships belong to North Korea. We are still studying and collecting information to be certain what kind of vessels they are. Therefore, I think it is not appropriate for me to answer your question in this situation.

   Q: What can the Japanese Government do to prevent any further incidents like this from happening?

   Mr. Okada: What we can do is to keep our vigilance as high as possible. We have been more aware of our security situation in recent years. Some incidents really prompted us to pay more attention to our security problems. We have been keenly undertaking our vigilance alertness measures and that is all that we can do. As you know, there are discussions among the politicians and also within Japan about what we can do in the future.

   Q: I read a report in Asahi that there were many cases like that in the past and it was not met with the same reaction. The writer probably tried to indicate that this action is coinciding with the debate on the Guidelines. Do you think there is any relation?

   Mr. Okada: As I just explained to you, we have been more sensitive to the security issues in recent years. You might still clearly remember the launch of missiles from North Korea. There are other problems occurring in Japanese territory and its vicinity. Generally speaking, our vigilance has been heightened in recent years. As a result of this overall atmosphere, these rather resolute measures have been undertaken by the people concerned. There has been a change of atmosphere, but this is not the cause of a change in our policy, this is a result of the change of the overall atmosphere for Japan.

   Q: Someone mentioned "many other incidents." Can you give us any kind of number?

   Mr. Okada: Very recently, I can mention the launch of the missiles and also the submarines which were captured by the Republic of Korea. We have also been aware of some other cases which might effect our security directly.

   Q: What specific cases have directly impacted Japan's security?

   Mr. Okada: I can just tell you the overall situation of Japan and what the Japanese feelings are now. Maybe it differs from person to person. Maybe you can collect some information yourself.

5. Reported visit to Japan by President Yasser Arafat of the Palestine National Authority

   Q: I heard that Mr. Arafat is going to visit Japan. Has that visit been confirmed officially?

   Mr. Okada: We only hear for the time being the media report on that. We are aware of that. However, no official information is available about the reported visit to Japan by President Yasser Arafat of the Palestine National Authority.