Press Conference, 30 March 2007

Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso to the Republic of Korea (ROK)
Visit by Foreign Minister Aso to the Republic of India for the SAARC Summit Meeting
Follow-up questions concerning Foreign Minister Aso's visit to India

I. Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso to the Republic of Korea (ROK)

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: For my opening statement let me introduce to you that Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso is visiting both the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Republic of India.

Flying tomorrow, Saturday, 31 March over to Jeju Island, Foreign Minister Aso will be meeting and then having dinner together with ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Song Min-soon on the same day.

II. Visit by Foreign Minister Aso to the Republic of India for the SAARC Summit Meeting

Mr. Taniguchi: Foreign Minister Aso will be back in Tokyo the next day, and on Monday, 2 April, he is flying to India in order to participate in the 14th Summit Meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

This will be the first opportunity for Japan to join the regional gathering that comprises the following nations: the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the Kingdom of Bhutan, India, the Republic of Maldives, the Kingdom of Nepal, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and as a newly joining member, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

Japan will be joined by the People's Republic of China, the European Union (EU), the ROK, and the United States (US), all participating in the Summit for the first time as observer nations.

Foreign Minister Aso may meet some of his counterparts on the sidelines of the Summit meeting, but I am yet to be able to tell you the details.

The most important event for him to do is to deliver a short speech at the opening session of the Summit, in which he will stress that South Asia makes a central pillar of Japan's AFP initiative, or the initiative to create an Arc of Freedom and Prosperity; that Japan is more than willing to help support peace building and democratization efforts; and that Japan will also help develop the region's connectivity.

Foreign Minister Aso is due to come back to Japan on Wednesday, 4 April.

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III. Follow-up questions concerning Foreign Minister Aso's visit to India

Q: Regarding next week's SAARC Summit, Foreign Minister Aso will be there. What do you see as Japan's aim in its participation as an observer? What does Japan want to accomplish, what kinds of goals does Japan want to achieve?

Mr. Taniguchi: SAARC has been there for many years. It is gaining steam of late for many reasons. One of the most important driving forces that has driven SAARC to gain more steam is the improved relationship between the two giants of the region, namely India and Pakistan.

It is important to note that each and every one of the member nations has never had any serious dispute, diplomatically, commercially, or otherwise, with Japan. Thus the perception of Japan among those peoples in the SAARC region is extremely good, and I must add in that sense there has been much contribution made not just by the Government of Japan, but also by private individuals.

It is almost certainly the case that each and every nation like Bhutan and Nepal has some Japanese who is remembered very well by the local people. There is someone called Dasho Keiji Nishioka. Dasho is the honorary title given to this Japanese gentleman who died in Bhutan. He spent his entire life, if I remember, 28 years dedicating himself to developing agriculture, rice farming and so on, in the Himalayan valley. He died in Bhutan; as many as 5,000 people from the local communities gathered to mourn his death.

There is a huge reservoir of goodwill for Japan. Why not take advantage of it, to put it bluntly? They are striving to improve their democracy. India is of course a hugely growing nation, and other nations are going to join the march of growth sooner rather than later. So to provide support to the SAARC region is going to make a lot of sense economically as well.

Those are the points that Japanese diplomacy is now looking at, in addition to the fact that the SAARC region sits right in the middle of (Asia's) east and west, those nations are faced with the Indian Ocean, which is also a vital area connecting the Persian gulf region with the Far East, like Japan. Strategically as well, to stand aside the SAARC region is very sensible. That is why Foreign Minister Aso is going to stress that South Asia is an important central pillar of his initiative of creating the Arc of Freedom and Prosperity.

Q: And so Foreign Minister Aso will basically convey this kind of thinking during his statement. I understand that he is going to make a five-minute speech at the outset of the conference.

Mr. Taniguchi: Yes. The gist of the statement is what I have already said: the Arc of Freedom and Prosperity, helping to build connectivity among them, peacebuilding efforts, democratization. Those are the major points.

Q: Naturally he will deliver his speech in English?

Mr. Taniguchi: Yes, I think that he will, because it is in any event a group of English-speaking nations.

Q: I understand also in this conference that ministers of China and the ROK as well as the US are also going to be attending this meeting with observer status at almost the same time as Japan. Did Japan choose to be an observer also, thinking about the timing that the others would also join in?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is hard to say. The SAARC region has had relations with many surrounding nations, like the former Soviet Union and China, but Japan has uniquely been one country that has had no ideological linkage or ideologically colored relationship with any of these SAARC member countries. It should have been easy for the SAARC to invite Japan as an observer nation than for them to do a similar thing for other nations, but I should stop here because I am almost speculating the motivation among the SAARC region.

But it is a good development; the newly joining observer nations -- China, Japan, the ROK, the EU, and the US -- are all looking at this very part of the world with keen interest. It goes without saying that India is absorbing a lot of foreign direct investment (FDI) from all of these nations, and so it makes a lot of sense for these countries to join the SAARC as observer nations. It means very little to argue who should have been an early member and who should have come a little later, I do not think that there is any use to that sort of argument.

Q: So basically Japan will convey its thinking and its perspective on diplomacy with SAARC, and not unveil any kind of new initiative or new aid package or anything of that sort?

Mr. Taniguchi: If you recall, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched his own initiative to double, triple, increase the number of young people who could come to Japan. To put it differently, he is keen on inviting those people, an increasing number of young people from Asia, and obviously given the huge amount of population in this part of the world, in the SAARC region, you should not be surprised to see that a new initiative is going to be announced to increase the number of people that Japan as a Government is going to invite from there to Japan over the next couple of years. Basically, I think I can say that the invitation program is an important part of Japan's diplomacy toward Asia, and given the importance both politically and economically and population-wise of this part of the world, the SAARC region, I think a similar thing can happen.

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