Press Conference 27 January 2004

1. Upcoming trilateral security dialogue among Japan, United State of America and Australia
2. Follow-up question concerning Japan-US-Australia trilateral consultation
3. Questions concerning issues surrounding temporary ban on US beef imports
4. Questions concerning issues surrounding spread of bird flu
5. Question concerning dispatch order of Self Defense Force (SDF) to Iraq

1. Upcoming trilateral security dialogue among Japan, United State of America and Australia

   Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon and thank you for coming to the briefing. I have one announcement I would like to make before taking questions.

   Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Yukio Takeuchi will hold a Japan-United States of America security dialogue with Deputy Secretary of State of the United States Richard Armitage on 2 and 3 February in Tokyo. This dialogue will be participated by officials from both governments and will discuss issues of mutual concern including the North Korean situation and the reconstruction of Iraq

   On 3 February, after the closing of this security dialogue, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Ashton Calvert will join Vice-Foreign Minister Takeuchi and Deputy State Secretary Armitage to hold a trilateral consultation among Japan, the United States and Australia.

   Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
   Related Information (Japan-Australia Relations)
   
2. Follow-up question concerning Japan-US-Australia trilateral consultation

   Q: Are the trilateral talks new?

   Mr. Takashima: It is an annual occasion. I think this is the fifth since August 2002. Every once in a while, when Japan and the United States hold a security dialogue, on the last day of the meeting, the Secretary of the Foreign Affairs and Trade Department of Australia comes to the location where the dialogue takes place to hold a trilateral meeting.

   Q: Are subjects discussed generally on regional security?

   Mr. Takashima: They are not limited to that because global issues would be picked up as an agenda item. As I have said on the security dialogue between Japan and the United States, or even on this trilateral consultation, the North Korean issues and the reconstruction of Iraq will be on the main agenda of the discussion.

   Q: Does it extend into matters such as the Republic of Indonesia and Timor Leste?

   Mr. Takashima: Of course the general situation in the region, Asia and the Pacific, is always a main topic.

   Q: Are there any other trilateral-type meetings like this with other countries?

   Mr. Takashima: As far as Japan is concerned, on the occasion of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Meeting, the trilateral meeting among Japan, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea is held.

   Q: But nothing involving Australia?

   Mr. Takashima: At the occasion of the Pacific Island Forum in Miyazaki in April 2002, Japan, Australia and New Zealand held a trilateral meeting to discuss issues related to the Forum.

   Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
   Related Information (Japan-Australia Relations)
   
3. Questions concerning issues surrounding temporary ban on US beef imports

   Q: I have been watching the negotiations on the issue of mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Japan's ban on imported beef products from the United States and the talks that were held on Friday. I have questions sort of related to that if that is okay.

   The question that came up in conversations I had with officials of the other ministries that participated, namely the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) is that the talks, from the American side, were aimed mainly at the scientific side of what divides the opinions between the two countries over issues that could allow a lifting of the ban, if they were settled; the main one being, of course, testing.

   Can you give me any sort of idea of what the kind of diplomatic thinking might be within the Ministry as a means of moving the talks forward?

   Mr. Takashima: What I can say is that the Japanese side is speaking with one voice; that is, in terms of food safety and the health of the people living in Japan. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we are all united to ensure that the health of the Japanese people and those living in Japan or consume food in the country will not be compromised. In other words, we have got to put food safety and the health issue as the top priority when we have talks with the United States.

   I would refer you to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries on the matters related to the details of the scientific issues.

   Q: The scientific issues seem to be pretty clear-cut. The problem seems to be how Japan and the United States are going to reach what essentially would have to be an agreement between the two countries.

   Mr. Takashima: My understanding is that at the last meeting, the Japanese and American sides felt that they could understand each other's position better and this kind of dialogue was very useful for resolving the issue. While there are some talks on the scientific aspect of this whole issue, the interpretation of science is another issue. That is a matter to be discussed between the two parties.

   Indeed, the talks between Japan and Canada have been going on since May last year, so it may take time, but the Japanese side is speaking with one voice and we are very much interested in resolving this issue as quickly as possible.

   Q: There are two phrases that the Government of Japan has used: the one that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi uses in the Diet is one that says that the equivalent level of testing has to be maintained, or something like that.

   One of the things I have heard is that some people within the Japanese Government would like to find a way of facilitating imports from the United States, but in a way that would also have to include other conditions set by the World Trade Organization, i.e. other countries. So you could not just make a deal with the United States to say that Japan accepts the US level of testing, and therefore allow it to export but not allow another country, such as Canada, at the same time.

   Have you heard of any kind of thinking beyond just the scientific side that could open what one person in another ministry described as a "special mechanism" or "special program"?

   Mr. Takashima: The issue is not market access at all; it is the safeness of food - how to secure sufficient safeness of the food we consume, imported or domestic product. Each country has its own rule. For example, Japan is now taking a different set of rules from the set of rules applied by the European countries for the inspection of the beef we produce in the country. We have to see the result of the discussion between Japan and the United States before we decide whether a set of rules the United States would be proposing are acceptable for the Government of Japan.

   Q: Has the United States informed Japan on a new set of rules?

   Mr. Takashima: Not yet, to my knowledge. However, the discussion is aiming at producing the way in which American beef would be allowed to come to the Japanese market again. In order to create that sort of situation, something has got to be hammered out and this should be a new set of rules for the inspections by the American side; if not by the US Government, industry perhaps.

   Q: So the rules come from the US Government and the US industry?

   Mr. Takashima: We do not know what sort of procedure Americans would be following, but the set of rules should be implemented first, and we have to make sure that the set of rules are acceptable and really applied at the places where the beef is produced or processed.

   Q: Does that mean that the rules have to be approved by each government?

   Mr. Takashima: If the Japanese Government finds that the American set of rules is acceptable and applicable to the Japanese standard of food safety, we would accept it and importation of American beef would be restarted. Until such time, the negotiation will be continued.

   Q: So those rules that would apply to the United States and be acceptable to the Government of Japan would be rules that would be acceptable in the case of, say, another country?

   Mr. Takashima: We do not know. We have to see the American proposal on it.

4. Questions concerning issues surrounding spread of bird flu

   Q: On a separate issue, has there been any involvement of Japan directly in the problems of chicken? What is Japan's current state of affairs? I know that some countries have banned Japanese chickens. Hong Kong announced that they banned the import of Japanese chickens. I did not confirm that but I saw it in the newspaper. It raised in my mind a question whether Hong Kong can still raise a bilateral trade ban?

   Mr. Takashima: I do not know the measures taken by foreign governments vis-à-vis Japanese chicken. However, I do not believe that Japan is a major chicken exporter.

   Nevertheless, we are an importer of chickens produced by various countries, especially from the Kingdom of Thailand. We have now put a temporary ban on the importation of Thai chicken.

   Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand extended an invitation to Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Yoshiyuki Kamei and Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare Chikara Sakaguchi to participate in a ministerial meeting to be held in Thailand. We are considering who to have attend that meeting in the light of the fact that the Diet session is now under way and it is very difficult for the ministers themselves to attend, but we are looking into their schedules.

   Also, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided antibiotics to the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in response to the call by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assist the Vietnamese to cope with this situation.

   Those are some of the measures taken by the Government of Japan.

5. Question concerning dispatch order of Self Defense Force (SDF) to Iraq

   Q: I believe that the order has been issued for the next contingent of troops to Iraq. Have they departed already?

   Mr. Takashima: Not yet. The advance team is there already and part of the main troops will be leaving Japan in the near future, but the date has not been fixed yet.

   Q: But I just read in the newspaper that Minister of Defense Shigeru Ishiba had issued the order?

   Mr. Takashima: He did so last night.

   Related Information (The Issue of Iraq)