Press Conference, 9 February 2007

Visit to Japan by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong of the Kingdom of Cambodia
Appointment of Mr. Togi Hideki as a Goodwill Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand
Questions concerning the Six-Party Talks
Questions concerning China's missile test to bring down a satellite
Questions concerning upcoming visits to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Zhaoxing and Premier Wen Jiabao of China

I. Visit to Japan by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong of the Kingdom of Cambodia

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon. My opening statement for today is a brief one. It is actually twofold. The first item that I should make an announcement of is the visit to Japan by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hor Namhong of the Kingdom of Cambodia. He will visit Japan from 12 to 17 February, Monday to Saturday. During his stay he will attend a celebratory event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the reestablishment of the Royal Embassy of Cambodia to Japan. He will also have talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso and other key persons in Japan.

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II. Appointment of Mr. Togi Hideki as a Goodwill Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand

Mr. Taniguchi: Secondly, as part of the initiative that I call Japan's AFP Initiative, that is, to create an Arc of Freedom and Prosperity, the Government of Japan has appointed a gentleman called Mr. Hideki Togi, who is an acclaimed musician involved in the ancient court music whose family dates back to 1,300 years ago, as a goodwill ambassador to be sent back and forth between the Kingdom of Thailand and Japan, because this year marks the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between Thailand and Japan.

That is it. Questions, please.

III. Questions concerning the Six-Party Talks

Q: Can I get the Government of Japan's reaction to the North Koreans' announcement that they will take these initial steps toward denuclearization?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is still hard to make an announcement of a concrete nature as to what is happening in Beijing. This morning, the meeting among the chief negotiators took place in Beijing, and it seems that progress has been made. But I should add that this is progressing very slowly, so it is still too early for the Government of Japan to give you any judgment or observation about what will likely happen and with how much speed the process is proceeding.

Q: How long of a leash is Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, (Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on terms of negotiating with his North Korean counterparts and other delegates of the Six-Party Talks? Is he allowed to make certain judgments on his own call?

Mr. Taniguchi: I have not been fully briefed about what the North Korean Government said and how detailed a statement that was, so I cannot tell you exactly at the moment.

Q: One of the main points is whether they could set up the working groups, and I understand that Japan is keen to have a working group referring to normalization of bilateral ties between Japan and North Korea. There are also reports that if such working groups are created, Japan is ready to consider lifting its ban on the visits of its officials going to North Korea so that they could have talks. Are you aware of this?

Mr. Taniguchi: It still remains speculation, and the fact of the matter is that it is not yet decided whether working groups are going to be established, how many working groups there would be and how soon, if they are established, those groups are going to be set up and start moving.

Q: Is the view of the Government of Japan that if such a working group is created on normalization of bilateral ties, naturally the abduction issue would also be on the agenda for the discussions?

Mr. Taniguchi: We have said a number of times over the course of many years that the issues such as denuclearization, freezing of the missile programs, and the abduction issue have to be in the same package, and that without solving each one of these, the Government of Japan cannot move on to get engaged in talk of normalization with North Korea. That position has not changed at all.

Q: Does Mr. Sasae in Beijing right now have any sort of proposals, ideas, or packages of concessions that he might propose to the North Koreans? It is my understanding that US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill had a sort of package deal with him for the North Koreans. I was wondering if the Government of Japan has anything ready along similar lines.

Mr. Taniguchi: It is too early to say what the Government of Japan is going to say to the North Korean side, because at the moment the discussions involving the chief negotiators are going on, and we have not yet reached the point where we can have the bilaterals between and among the six nations. But I should add that when it comes to Japan's position, I can say that the Government of Japan has been in very close contact with its counterpart in the US, and so what is going on is an orchestrated way of dealing with North Korea.

Q: So would it be fair to say that the Japanese will be part of whatever the US is going to be proposing?

Mr. Taniguchi: I do not know yet. Everything is going to be dependent on what the North Korean Government is going to say and how seriously they are going to comply with the norm that the rest of the Six-Party Talks framework has been saying that North Korea should comply with, namely, the introduction of the members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the stopping of any action in the Yongbyong reactor site, and so on.

IV. Questions concerning China's missile test to bring down a satellite

Q: In regard to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's remarks regarding the People's Republic of China's experiment in blowing up one of its satellites, in which she said something like that it was going "too overboard," what is the Government of Japan's position on this?

Mr. Taniguchi: An exercise to test the kinetic weapon capacity is by nature a violation to the internationally accepted agreement that space should not be used for military purposes, and the Japanese Government has continued to request that Beijing come out with a detailed explanation as to what actually they did in outer space, and we are still waiting for them to give us a more concrete picture.

V. Questions concerning upcoming visits to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Zhaoxing and Premier Wen Jiabao of China

Q: In relation to that, next week Minister of Foreign Affairs Li Zhaoxing of China is coming here to Japan. During his meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Aso, is Mr. Aso going to express serious concern with regard to the Chinese test, or make some kind of request of him?

Mr. Taniguchi: I should not make a prediction about that. The Japanese government has already conveyed its concerns to the Beijing side a number of times, so what I can tell you at the moment is that the ball is still in the court of the Chinese.

Q: Is there potential of this having an impact on the relations between Tokyo and Beijing? I understand that Chinese-Japanese relations have been pretty good since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Beijing, and I was wondering how this satellite issue will affect that.

Mr. Taniguchi: Foreign Minister Li's visit is going to be a crucially important one for both Japan and China in paving the way for the successful visit, scheduled later, for Premier Wen Jiabao of the Chinese Government. Also, I should remind you that this year is an important year in the sense that we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of the rapprochement between Beijing and Tokyo. The bottom line that I can say is that we have to foster this mutual goodwill on both sides.

Q: So would it be fair to say that Mr. Li's visit would be a pivotal one in Japanese-Chinese relations?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is just a matter of what sort of adjective you would like to use. Indeed, it is going to be a very important one, and we are very much looking forward first of all to hosting Foreign Minister Li, and then hosting Premier Wen Jiabao in April.

Q: Could you go into some of the topics that might be discussed in Mr. Li's visit?

Mr. Taniguchi: One of the most important things to be discussed between the two foreign ministers is to sort out the schedule and so on of the subsequent visit of Premier Wen, so that is going to be the most important item to be discussed by the two.

Q: I was wondering, can we anticipate Mr. Wen's schedule in the coming weeks, since this is going to be discussed in next week's talks?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is already agreed that that is going to take place sometime in April. That is the situation.

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