Press Conference 13 February 2001
- Visit to Japan by Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy of the European Commission
- Questions on the reaction of the Government of Japan to the Ehime Maru incident
- Questions on discussion of the Ehime Maru incident at a Japan-US summit meeting
- Questions on the dispatch of salvage experts to the Ehime Maru site
- Questions on efforts to support the families of those involved in the Ehime Maru incident
- Questions on reportage of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's remarks on the KSD case
- Visit to Japan by Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy of the European Commission
Press Secretary Norio Hattori: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have just one announcement to make.
Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy of the European Commission is going to visit Japan from 15-18 February.
During his stay in Japan, Commissioner Lamy will meet with political leaders, such as Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono, and business leaders, including representatives of Keidanren.
Related Information (Japan-EU Relations)
- Questions on the reaction of the Government of Japan to the Ehime Maru incident
Q: I would like to ask about the Ehime Maru incident. Is Japan so far satisfied with the response from the US side, especially on the rescue operation as well as support to victims?
Mr. Hattori: First of all I have to say that the Government of the United States has expressed regrets and deep apologies to those involved in this incident directly, as well to the Government of Japan and the Japanese people.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have both called their Japanese counterparts in order to express their regrets and apologies.
We also understand that all those on the US side, such as the US Navy and other members of the US Armed Forces, are now doing their utmost to search for the nine missing people. I believe that the cooperation between Japanese and the United States is going rather well.
Q: What is your assessment of the cause of the accident?
Mr. Hattori: Of course, we understand that the US Government has set up a team to carry out an investigation into the causes of the incident. We are not yet in a position to make any definite assessment on the causes of the accident.
Q: Do you think that the US has done enough so far, or is there anything more that they can do? And if so, what kinds of things have to be done?
Mr. Hattori: We understand, as I said, that all those involved on the US side have been doing their utmost. Of course, the sentiments shared by the families and the people directly involved on the Japanese side may differ, but that is quite understandable.
Q: Do you think this will have any adverse effect on US-Japan relations? And also, have you got any word from the US Government regarding pulling up the ship from the seabed?
Mr. Hattori: On the first part of your question, it is members of the media that want to take us into such a discussion. As I said, the most important thing is to try our best to search for the nine missing people. That is without doubt the most important thing at this time. To reiterate, we think that the US side has been doing their utmost.
It may take some time before the results of the investigation into the causes of the accident are available, but in response to the question that you posed, I think both sides have to make great efforts to ensure that this incident will not damage the Japan-US bilateral relationship.
On the salvage question, late this morning we have been informed in Hawaii that the US side is going to bring a special diving machine to the site in order to locate the sunken ship. We would like to see the results of this operation.
Q: So there has not been any new development since then?
Mr. Hattori: If this is a new development, this is a new development, but in the sense that the ship has not yet been located, there is no new development.
Q: Prime Minister Mori was criticized for playing golf at the time of the accident. Including that fact, do you think the Government's handling of the accident has been appropriate?
Mr. Hattori: Yes, I think so.
Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
- Questions on discussion of the Ehime Maru incident at a Japan-US summit meeting
Q: Is this issue likely to come up on the agenda of the US-Japan summit meeting, which I hear both countries have scheduled for the later part of March?
Mr. Hattori: The schedule for Japan-US summit talks is not yet finalized, but on the assumption that they are going to take place sooner rather than later, and since this is an incident of some magnitude for both sides, it is normal for us to assume that this will be part of the discussions between the two leaders.
Q: Is the Japanese Prime Minister, maybe Mr. Mori at that time, going to demand an apology from President Bush?
Mr. Hattori: As I said repeatedly, the US Government, starting with President George W. Bush himself, has already expressed apologies. President Bush instructed Secretary for State Powell to convey his deep apologies to the Government of Japan.
Q: So what you are suggesting is that Japan or Prime Minister Mori will not be demanding any apology at the time that the summit is held?
Mr. Hattori: I do not understand why you are so insistent on that point. I have said that the apology has already been expressed by President Bush himself and other responsibles of the US Government.
Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
- Questions on the dispatch of salvage experts to the Ehime Maru site
Q: I understand also that some kind of salvage experts have been sent?
Mr. Hattori: Yes, that is correct.
Q: Could you explain who they are and their purpose?
Mr. Hattori: We have dispatched three people. Two are from the Self-Defense Force and the other is from a private company that specializes in salvage activities.
Q: And what will their mission be?
Mr. Hattori: Their mission is to cooperate with the US side in the search for the missing people, and also in locating and retrieving the sunken ship.
Q: You mentioned that special diving equipment is being dispatched. When is it going to start operating, and where is that equipment coming from?
Mr. Hattori: According to the explanation given by Admiral Thomas Fargo, the Commander in Chief of the US Pacific Fleet, that equipment was scheduled to arrive on the night of 12 February, Hawaii time, and they are going to operate that machine as soon as it arrives at the site.
Q: So it can operate at night?
Mr. Hattori: Well, it is not specified here in the information that I have whether they are going to start during the night or whether they will wait till the morning, but given the emergency situation, I suppose that the equipment will be put in operation as soon as possible.
Q: Do you know from where it is being brought? Where was it based? Was it San Diego?
Mr. Hattori: That information was not specified. The name of the equipment is Scorpio.
Q: Apologies for being late, so this question might be repeated. Is the Japanese Government 100 percent satisfied that the United States side did everything possible after the accident to help the survivors? And in particular, is it satisfied that the commander of the Greeneville did everything possible considering that the captain of the Ehime Maru said that they really did not do enough to help? What is the Japanese Government's position on that?
Mr. Hattori: Yes you are right, you are repeating a question that was posed before you arrived. We understand that all those involved in this accident on the US side have been doing their utmost efforts from the humanitarian viewpoint in order to search for the nine people still missing and also in taking care of the families that arrived from Japan.
With regard to the latter part of your question, yes I know that the captain of the Ehime Maru, in his press conference, put forward his observation on this point. But we understand that a thorough investigation is now going to be conducted by the US Government on the causes of the incident and the measures taken by the US side immediately after the incident. So it is premature for us to make any judgment on the point that you raised. The Government of Japan is not conducting that investigation; it is being carried out by the United States Government.
Q: So you have not had any explanation, even a provisional explanation, of why this submarine made an emergency surfacing drill?
Mr. Hattori: To my knowledge, no. I think that is a very important part of the investigation that is now being carried out by the US Government.
Q: Have you had any timescale of when results might come through from that investigation, weeks or months even?
Mr. Hattori: No, I have no idea.
Q: With regard to raising the Ehime Maru, is the Japanese Government demanding that the ship be raised, or is it a polite request? What is the position? And if the United States side does not raise the ship, is the Japanese side prepare to bear the costs of doing it itself?
Mr. Hattori: If you put yourself in the place of the families involved, it is quite understandable, given nine people are still missing, that they want this ship to be raised. The issue is not resolved, and we have dispatched high-ranking officials to Honolulu in order to conduct day-to-day negotiations and an exchange of views with American authorities. At this point in time, I am not in a position to confirm anything with respect to requesting or demanding the raising of the ship.
Q: It sounds from your comments that the Japanese Government is not pushing as hard as it seemed like it was a couple of days ago. Is it backing off?
Mr. Hattori: It is not a "backing off." Raising a sunken ship from 500 meters below the ocean is not going to be an easy task. That is why we sent the experts to the site. From the technical viewpoint and other viewpoints, that issue is going to be discussed between the two sides in a bona fide manner, so Japan is not backing off in any sense on that issue.
Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
- Questions on efforts to support the families of those involved in the Ehime Maru incident
Q: Do you have any idea of how long the families of the missing will stay in the United States?
Mr. Hattori: I do not have any idea.
Q: Any indication? As long as...
Mr. Hattori: That is not for us to decide. It is something that the families themselves will decide.
Q: And the US has already said that it will give full support?
Mr. Hattori: Yes, that is our understanding.
Q: Obviously there are many angry voices coming from the families that are in the United States right now, the families of those still missing. How is Prime Minister Mori going to explain the situation right now, if the Japanese Government is satisfied with what the US side has done to those people? And how are you explaining the US efforts as well as the efforts of Japan in terms of this incident? How are you explaining it in Hawaii for those people?
Mr. Hattori: I understand that the families are actually in Honolulu. It is our understanding that everyday, hour- by-hour, the US authorities are giving explanations directly to the families. I am not in a position here to say whether the families that are being given the information by the US side are satisfied or not.
As far as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned, of course we are doing our utmost in association with the US Government and the US authorities in the search for the nine missing people. Also, our cooperation will be extended to the point that your colleague has raised, the salvage of the sunken ship. So all kinds of things are being discussed between both sides.
We have to be considerate and attentive toward the families involved. This is a very tragic accident, and we sympathize with the families involved, particularly as there are a number of high school students in this case. If I return to your previous question, the decision for the families to stay in Hawaii or return to Japan is up to the families--we are acting according to their wishes and sentiments as a foremost priority.
Q: I would imagine that for the families of those missing the first concern is obviously to find those people, and I would have thought the second concern is for a clear explanation of what has happened. However, it seems from your comments that the Japanese Government is willing to wait indefinitely for some kind of explanation. Are you not putting any pressure on the American side?
Mr. Hattori: You may have misunderstood my statement. I did not say that we would await indefinitely a full explanation. I am not so familiar with this type of investigation. Some people say that it may take some time, and it may take a longer rather than shorter period of time. But this does not mean that anybody, including least of all the families of those involved, is going to be satisfied without any explanation being given until the final results of the investigation have been put in place.
Q: Could you show us Scorpio again?
Q: In the Japanese media several newspapers have said that it damages the bilateral relationship, especially coming after the comments from the head Marine in Okinawa last week. Does the Japanese Government accept that some damage has been done to the relationship?
Mr. Hattori: Both governments are doing their utmost in order to resolve this accident, by first of all searching for the nine missing people. We are of the view that although this is a tragic incident, it should not damage the very important bilateral relationship between our two countries.
Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
- Questions on reportage of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's remarks on the KSD case
Q: I apologize for coming in a little late. On a different subject, Prime Minister Mori's first speech in the Diet, the Japanese media reported that Prime Minister Mori did not apologize for the scandals in the months before, but the foreign media reported that the prime minister did apologize. For instance, one example, the Financial Times, "Yoshiro Mori, Japan's prime minister, on Wednesday took the unusual step of using his opening address in the first session of parliament to apologize," and then they quote him as saying, "I view this situation with the utmost severity, and I would like to express my deep apologies to the people of Japan." That is the little quote from Prime Minister Mori. I have read over Mr. Mori's speech on the official website of the prime minister, but I cannot find that quote, and the Financial Times tells me in writing that it was a quote delivered by the Foreign Ministry of Japan. Could you explain that please?
Mr. Hattori: You are referring to Prime Minister Mori's statement on KSD?
Q: Prime Minister Mori said in the English translation, "it is extremely regrettable that I must begin my opening statement at this terribly important session of the Diet by commenting on the arrest etc...." But he does not apologize.
Mr. Hattori: What do you want to know?
Q: Then the foreign media started reporting that Prime Minister Mori did apologize, and as I just put forward, the Financial Times gave a literal quote from Prime Minister Mori saying, "I would like to express my deep apologies to the people of Japan."
Mr. Hattori: I think that is language that Prime Minister Mori may have used in responses to questions following his policy address, either in the Upper House or Lower House.
Q: When was that?
Mr. Hattori: I think it was on the first day of the Diet session some time last week.
Q: Then how can the Financial Times publish this quote on 31 January?
Mr. Hattori: I do not know what searching for discrepancies between the Financial Times and other newspapers does for you. I do not understand the thrust of your question.
Q: If you do not understand, then I do not know why you do not understand. The Japanese press says that the prime minister did not apologize, the foreign press says he did apologize.
Mr. Hattori: Prime Minister Mori apologized. You should refer to the exchange of views in the Diet last week.
Q: Exactly, then he did apologize, but that was February, I am talking about 31 January. The foreign media came up with this quote, and they say this quote came from the Foreign Ministry. But Prime Minister Mori never said anything like that.
Mr. Hattori: No, Prime Minister Mori did say it.
Q: Can you then give me the exact location of the quote?
Mr. Hattori: That kind of thing had been discussed last Monday, the opening day of the Diet. On that day, Prime Minister Mori, Minister for Foreign Affairs Kono, and Minister for Finance Kiichi Miyazawa each delivered speeches, and then in the following days there were discussions on that issue.
Q: Can you explain to me how the Financial Times published these words five days earlier?
Mr. Hattori: I do not know, but if you want more specific information on the exchange of views, that can be supplied to you.
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