Press Conference by the Press Secretary 1 June, 1999

1. Visit to the Russian Federation by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura
2. Dispatch of Japanese election observers to the Republic of Indonesia
3. Grant assistance for the peaceful solution of the East Timor issue
4. Former inhabitants of the Northern Territories
5. Negotiation on the peace treaty between Japan and the Russian Federation
6. Hostilities between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan over Kashmir
7. Agenda of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi at the 1999 Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Cologne
8. Reports of possible visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
9. Visit to the United States of America by Director-General Kihachiro Amae of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau
10. Further explanation to certain Asian nations on the passage by the Japanese Diet of the bills related to the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation

1. Visit to the Russian Federation by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: Good afternoon. I have a couple of comments to make at the beginning. Firstly, about the visit of Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura to the Russian Federation over the weekend. In the course of his visit, which took place shortly after the change of the Cabinet in Russia, Foreign Minister Koumura reaffirmed through his conversations with the Russian leaders that there is no change in Russia's policy towards Japan under the new Cabinet headed by new Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin. This visit by Foreign Minister Koumura served to chart the course for further top-level dialogue between Japan and Russia. Specifically, with respect to the visit by President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation to Japan, we reaffirmed with the Russian side that we will proceed with the preparation for the visit, bearing in mind that the visit may very well be taking place sometime this autumn. We also confirmed with the Russian side that there will be a meeting between President Yeltsin and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi in Cologne at the time of the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in June. With respect to the question of the free visits by the former inhabitants of the four Islands to these Islands, Foreign Minister Koumura took this up with the Russian side and discussed this intensively with the Russian side and as a result there was a basic agreement reached about how these visits may be brought about. So we do have the basic framework for this. The two sides agreed to complete the necessary work for the implementation of these visits as soon as possible. It is our intention to expedite this work with the Russian side with a view to having the first group of these former inhabitants visit these Islands sometime this summer. With respect to the peace treaty negotiations, frank exchanges took place on the basis of the proposals put forward by both sides. This problem is by no means easy, but it is certainly our intention to continue the negotiation with tenacity on the basis of the Krasnoyarsk agreement so that there will be progress in this negotiation at the level of the leaders of the two countries. Fruitful exchanges took place with respect to cooperation in other areas based on the idea to promote the Japan-Russia relationship in all its aspects. Specifically, Japan expressed the initiative on this occasion towards a Japan-Russia joint efforts for disarmament and environmental protection which includes cooperation for dismantling of Russian nuclear submarines in the Far Eastern region. The Russian side expressed its appreciation for this initiative. Kosovo was also discussed in the course of Foreign Minister Koumura's visit and the two sides agreed to stay in close consultation and cooperation with a view to achieving an early political solution on the basis of the general principles laid down as a result of the recent meeting of the G8 Foreign Ministers.

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2. Dispatch of Japanese election observers to the Republic of Indonesia

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: I have two announcements to make with respect to the Republic of Indonesia. The first concerns the dispatching of Japanese election observers to Indonesia for the Indonesian general elections to take place on 7 June. We have decided to dispatch 20 election observers headed by Ambassador Sumio Edamura, who is a former Ambassador to Indonesia. They will be in Indonesia for about a week from 3 June to observe the election campaigns and voting. The Indonesian general elections are implemented in the context of political reform under President Baharuddin Jusuf Habibie, who was inaugurated in May 1998 after President Suharto's resignation. Direct, universal, free and secret ballot will be held to simultaneously elect 462 members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and members of the provincial and local Parliaments under the proportional representation system. Free, fair and sincere implementation of the general elections is of great significance to the progress of political and economic reforms in Indonesia. The Government of Japan has expressed its willingness to provide as much assistance as possible for such implementation of the general elections and the dispatch of the observers was decided against such background. I may add that the election observers, apart from Ambassador Edamura who is the leader, will also have Deputy Director-General Sumio Tarui of the Asian Affairs Bureau of the Foreign Ministry as well as several academics, professors, former professors and so forth who are experts on Indonesia and some young people as well.

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3. Grant assistance for the peaceful solution of the East Timor issue

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: My next announcement about Indonesia is on our cooperation with respect to the ballot to take place in East Timor. As you know, what has been described as the popular consultation with the East Timorese people will be taking place in August. Our Government has decided to provide US$10.11 million in total to the United Nations, including emergency grant assistance of US$6.11 million in order to facilitate the smooth implementation of the direct ballot of the East Timorese. We do hope that this assistance will contribute to the peaceful solution of the East Timor issue.

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4. Former inhabitants of the Northern Territories

   Q: Concerning the Northern Territories, what is the number of remaining former inhabitants?

   Mr. Numata: I do not know how detailed our data will be because when you talk about these former inhabitants, some of them are very old, perhaps in their 70s or 80s and I am not quite sure if we have a full list as it were, but I am sure we have some idea of those people who are very anxious to have their homecoming. One of the reasons why Foreign Minister Koumura attached a high priority to working this out in the course of his visit to Moscow this time is that people are getting old and we would like very much to give them the chance to see the places where they lived more than 55 years ago.

   Q: Would the group be restricted to actual former residents rather than their children as well?

   Mr. Numata: We do have the scope on that. Those Japanese nationals who lived on the four Northern Islands until the end of 1945 and their spouses and their children. The idea behind all this is to expedite the visits of these people to the four Islands by giving them documents which will have an effect similar to what you call multiple-entry visas, although what is equally important here is that they will be traveling without passports, without visas. Passports and visas will raise the problem of jurisdiction and the legal issues. We are thinking about an arrangement which will enable these people to go to these places more than once and also to increase the number of entry points into these islands which will, for example, facilitate the visit by these people to the Habomai Islands.

   Q: Is this purely humanitarian or is it possibly the first stage in a broader opening up of visits?

   Mr. Numata: Primarily humanitarian, but in the sense that there is a great deal of interest in this aspect of the issue, the visits being materialized will, we hope, have an effect of improving the climate in which the whole question of the peace treaty negotiation and the question of the four Islands might be resolved between our two Governments. In a way, it does have the effect of fostering the climate which might be conducive to the peace treaty negotiation.

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5. Negotiation on the peace treaty between Japan and the Russian Federation

   Q: According to an NHK news report, the Russian Foreign Minister stated that during his meeting with Mr. Koumura, that a peace treaty with Japan cannot be reached by the year 2000.

   Mr. Numata: I am not aware of that particular report. I do not know where that report comes from. As far as the meeting between Foreign Minister Koumura and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of the Russian Federation is concerned, they did discuss the peace treaty negotiation among other things. Foreign Minister Koumura discussed the question of the peace treaty negotiation with Prime Minister Stepashin as well. What was discussed is that the two Foreign Ministers conducted frank exchanges of views on the basis of the Japanese proposal and the Russian proposal. They agreed to discuss this more in depth in anticipation of the visit by President Yeltsin to Japan. In Foreign Minister Koumura's meeting with Prime Minister Stepashin, they also discussed the territorial issue, the issue of the peace treaty negotiation. For example, Foreign Minister Koumura said to Prime Minister Stepashin, "Let's work together to translate into reality the agreement between our two leaders to conclude the peace treaty on the basis of the Tokyo Declaration by the year 2000." Prime Minister Stepashin responded by saying, "That's all right. That's a promise between myself and you [that is the Foreign Minister]." As I said earlier, this does remain a challenging problem to be resolved. It is not an easy problem to resolve, but the two sides do intend to continue to work towards the resolution of the problem, and as far as our side is concerned, it is certainly our intention to continue that negotiation on the basis of the Krasnoyarsk agreement, that is to conclude the peace treaty by the year 2000, with tenacity.

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6. Hostilities between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan over Kashmir

   Q: Do you have any comment on India's air and ground campaign to drive out Pakistani and Afghan Taliban infiltrators from the Indian side of Kashmir?

   Mr. Numata: As to who triggered what in this dispute, that may not be an easy issue to comment on, but having said that, we did issue a statement on this very recent fighting between Indian and Pakistani troops in Kashmir. A statement was issued in the name of the Press Secretary / Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs -- must be somebody who is close to me at least -- that is me. We said Japan expresses its concern over the tensions heightened due to the large-scale exchange of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops on 26 May which had been continued along the lines of control in the long-disputed Jammu and Kashmir regions since early May. We urged both countries to exercise restraint and to seek a peaceful solution through dialogues. We have been concerned about the conflict between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Kashmir. We have also been concerned that this recent fighting could undermine the momentum brought about by the Indian-Pakistan Summit meeting in Lahore in February. So we continue to call on both countries to exercise restraint and come to an immediate cease-fire. In fact, this question of Kashmir was also taken up between Foreign Minister Koumura and Foreign Minister Ivanov over the weekend, that is on 29 May. In the course of their meeting, the two Foreign Ministers expressed their deep concern about this fighting and they jointly called on both India and Pakistan to exercise maximum restraint and to promptly cease their hostilities. The two Foreign Ministers also welcomed the reported telephone conversation between Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Republic of India and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and they expressed the hope that this issue will be resolved through dialogue and peaceful means on the basis of the Lahore Declaration. We have also heard about the contacts taking place between India and Pakistan with a view to a possible meeting between Foreign Secretary Jaswant Singh of the Republic of India and Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to take place in New Delhi. We do hope that such a meeting will take place and will lead to the peaceful solution of the issue.

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7. Agenda of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi at the 1999 Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Cologne

   Q: What about Prime Minister Obuchi's agenda for the G8 Summit? Has that been determined yet?

   Mr. Numata: The sherpas are very busily at work on that. However, in general, I understand that one possible running theme for the forthcoming G8 Summit is globalization or the question of how we should tackle the challenges of globalization in such a way that globalization will benefit as many people as possible. Because when you talk about globalization, although it is generally perceived as a positive thing, there may be certain aspects of globalization which may have worked to the detriment of some people. We have been talking about the need for the social safety net in the context of the effect of globalization on Asian countries in relation to the Asian economic and financial turmoil. So that is just one example. There seems to be this one broad theme of globalization and its impact on the world. In that context, they may be talking about a number of issues. They may be talking about macroeconomic issues. They may also be talking about the international financial issues, possibly the question of what is sometimes described as a new international financial architecture. They may also be discussing the question of the developing countries, especially the question of the Heavily-Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC), the question of their accumulating debt burden and what the advanced countries, the donors, could do to alleviate such a burden and a number of other issues on the economic front. On the political front, I suppose the political agenda of the G8 Summits in the past naturally seem to be dictated by events which happen close to the Summit, but one possible focus I think may very well be Kosovo, but these are just illustrative. It is really up to the leaders themselves.

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8. Reports of possible visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

   Q: There are some unconfirmed reports that Mr. Koumura will be visiting Iran and Saudi Arabia?

   Mr. Numata: Thank you for answering your own question. It remains unconfirmed.

9. Visit to the United States of America by Director-General Kihachiro Amae of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau

   Q: How about the visit of Mr. Amae to the United States?

   Mr. Numata: Director-General Kihachiro Amae of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau of the Foreign Ministry is visiting the United States of America, I think this week. He goes out from time to time to meet his counterparts in the State Department or the Foreign Ministry or in the British Foreign Office and elsewhere to compare notes about the areas that he covers. In this particular instance, he will be exchanging views with his counterpart in the State Department on the Middle East. If you are responsible for particular regions in the Foreign Ministry, I think it is very useful to exchange views with your counterparts. I must add that it is not a privilege that I can enjoy because I cannot specify any one region that I cover.

   Q: They said he might discuss the issue of Iran and loans.

   Mr. Numata: When he talks about the Middle East with his American counterpart, it is possible that he may discuss the Islamic Republic of Iran, but I am not sure if he will be specifically discussing the question of the loans to Iran as such. The question of our yen loans to Iran is still under careful study by our Government, taking into account the situation in Iran and the situation surrounding Iran as well as our basic position contained in our Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter.

10. Further explanation to certain Asian nations on the passage by the Japanese Diet of the bills related to the Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation

    Q: I was told that a team from the Foreign Ministry and Defense Agency recently returned from Beijing and Seoul. Their mission was to explain the significance of the new Guidelines. Was there any feedback from their visit?

    Mr. Numata: Yes, we have some feedbacks. Firstly, we have been in rather frequent dialogue with the Government of the People's Republic of China, the Government of the Republic of Korea and other governments in Asia on this whole question of the new Guidelines for Japan-US Defense Cooperation (Guidelines). We started that sort of dialogue even while we were drafting these new Guidelines, then when the new Guidelines themselves were completed. So it has been a continuing process. But the significance of this particular team going out, that is Deputy Director-General Keichi Hayashi of the North American Affairs Bureau of our Ministry and Counselor Toru Kawajiri of the Defense Agency, is that as a part of the sort of dialogue, we did send our experts shortly after the passage of these bills in our Parliament. We do feel that the governments concerned, the Chinese Government and the Government of the Republic of Korea did appreciate the fact that we lost no time after the passage of these bills to send these people to explain what these bills are all about. I understand that as far as the Government of the Republic of Korea is concerned, they did show understanding of these bills. As far as the Chinese Government is concerned, our experts talked to people both in Chinese Foreign Ministry and also in their Defense Ministry, including somebody from the People's Liberation Army (PLA). The basic points we explained are the points that we have been making clear to them for quite some time, for example, that the Japan-US Security Arrangements are purely defensive in nature and are not predicated on any particualr threat nor are they directed to any particular country. The Guidelines legislations are designed to contribute to the effective implementation of the Japan-US Security Treaty and thereby to contribute to ensuring the peace and security of Japan. These legislations are perfectly within the framework of the purposes of the Japan-US Security Treaty. That the concept of the situations in the areas surrounding Japan are situational and are not geographic in nature, that is we cannot predetermine in which areas these situations may arise in advance. That these legislations will in no way change Japan's basic defense and security posture, for example, defense exclusively for the purpose of self-defense. That Japan will continue to act only in accordance with the basic principles of international law and the United Nations Charter. The laws make clear that Japan will not engage in the use of force or the threat of the use of force and so forth. We also explained our position with respect to Taiwan which is that we continue to abide by the basic position expressed in the Japan-China Joint Communiqué of 1972, that is when we normalized our relationship with China. We continue to hope strongly that issues related to Taiwan will be resolved peacefully through dialogue between the parties concerned and so forth. The Chinese side expressed their concern with respect to Taiwan and also their concern from their viewpoint that Japan may go beyond the framework of defense purely for the purpose of self-defense or that Japan might reemerge as a military power and so forth. We did explain our basic positions as I have outlined previously. We do feel that in that sense it was a rather significant step in the dialogue. Have we covered most parts of the world?

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