Press Conference, 19 June 2007

Visit to Japan by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam for the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
Visit to Japan by Vice President Karim Khalili of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the Conference on Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) for the Stabilization of Afghanistan
The Third East Asia Summit (EAS) Energy Cooperation Task Force (ECTF) Meeting
"GUAM + Japan" Meeting
Questions concerning North Korea
Questions concerning reports that former President Alberto Fujimori of the Republic of Peru will run in the upcoming upper house elections
Question concerning the US International Nuclear Fuel for Peace and Nonproliferation Act of 2007
Question concerning the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)
Question concerning confirmation from the Russian Federation of receipt of North Korean funds
Question concerning the upcoming vote in the US House of Representatives on the comfort women issue

I. Visit to Japan by His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei Darussalam for the signing of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon, thanks very much for coming.

I have four points to introduce for my opening statement. They are about Brunei, the DIAG in Afghanistan, the East Asian Summit, and Japan and the GUAM nations.

Firstly, it was a big day yesterday, 18 June, for Japan and Brunei Darussalam as the two nations signed the Agreement for an Economic Partnership. His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed it into effect. Please refer to more details on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

To remind you, as of now, Japan has EPAs with five of the ASEAN member nations, namely, the Republic of Singapore, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines, the Kingdom of Thailand and Brunei. With the Republic of Chile and with the United Mexican States, Japan already has EPAs, and we're now working hard or studying hard toward the completion of EPAs with the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of India, the Swiss Confederation, the Commonwealth of Australia, and the Gulf Cooperation Council, the last one of which is for a Free Trade Agreement.

II. Visit to Japan by Vice President Karim Khalili of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the Conference on Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) for the Stabilization of Afghanistan

Mr. Taniguchi: Secondly, to further stabilize the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, what is now urgent is to accelerate the DIAG process. DIAG stands for Disbandment of Illegal Armed Groups. It's been among our proudest accomplishments that Japan has taken a leading role together with the UNAMA, or the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, in promoting the DDR, or the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration of the former state soldiers.

Yet, what is even more difficult and in a sense more crucially important is to bring the illegal combatants, that are aplenty, into civilian life, and the DIAG is to do exactly that. In that connection Japan will host what is called the "Conference on DIAG for the Stabilization of Afghanistan: Coordination with the Police Reform" this week on Thursday, 21 June in Tokyo. Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso will deliver an opening address, and Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Katsuhito Asano, closing remarks. To join the conference, Vice President Karim Khalili of Afghanistan will visit Japan at the invitation of the Government of Japan, from tomorrow, Wednesday, 20 June to Friday, 22 June. That will be his first visit to Japan.

Related Information (Press Release)

III. The Third East Asia Summit (EAS) Energy Cooperation Task Force (ECTF) Meeting

Mr. Taniguchi: Thirdly, let me say that the Third EAS, or East Asia Summit, Energy Cooperation Task Force Meeting will meet today, Tuesday, 19 June and tomorrow, 20 June in Tokyo. The task force follows what the EAS calls the "Cebu Declaration on East Asian Energy Security" that the Summit issued back in January this year in order to discuss among the member countries such issues as energy conservation, bio-fuel and the like. Japan co-chairs the task force together with the Republic of Singapore. With climate Change gaining more and more salience for the world community, the expectation is high that the EAS makes a difference in tackling the difficult issues.

Related Information (Press Release)

IV. "GUAM + Japan" Meeting

Mr. Taniguchi: Fourth and lastly, Japan and the GUAM nations, which comprise Georgia, Ukraine, the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Republic of Moldova, held the first so-called "GUAM + Japan" Meeting yesterday, Monday, 18 June in Baku, Azerbaijan. As was indicated in Foreign Minister Aso's speech on the Arc of Freedom and Prosperity, the GUAM + Japan will be made a regular consultation process, involving top ranking diplomats from the five countries. You can see the Joint Press Statement in its original English version on the ministry's website.

Related Information (Press Release)

V. Questions concerning North Korea

Q: I believe the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is expected to inspect North Korea's facility at Yongbyon on 26 June. I was wondering: what is the Japanese Government's position or comment on this?

Mr. Taniguchi: This is way overdue and it has not started yet. The February process is about to start, but it is just about to start, so nothing has changed in the Japanese Government's position in that it will pay extremely cautious attention to North Korea and what it will actually be doing.

Q: I believe that Ambassador Christopher Hill will be visiting the MOFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) later today. I believe that this issue will be one of the major topics that will be discussed along with plans that Japan and the US and other Six-Party Talks members will undertake. Is that so?

Mr. Taniguchi: Obviously this is going to be one of the most important issues. There is no question about it. Mr. Hill and Mr. Sasae, his counterpart in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be thoroughly reviewing what has happened and what will likely happen and what has to happen, and share information between themselves.

Once again, the future scenario--what will happen next--is still with many question marks. I cannot say anything for sure, except that the Japanese Government is going to pay close attention to the situation.

Q: I believe that the ROK (Republic of Korea) is planning to send some oil--50,000 tons, is it?--to North Korea. What is Japan's position on this move?

Mr. Taniguchi: Once again, nothing actually has happened so far as Japan's position is concerned. The sending of oil from the ROK has been part of the agreed program in the February agreement. It is a sort of quid pro quo from the ROK side on the grounds that North Korea is going to comply with the February agreement.

You may remember that the Japanese Government has made it repeatedly clear that unless the abduction issue is going to be addressed in a more progressive fashion, Japan has no will to provide any help to the North Korean Government.

Q: When do you think the next round of Six-Party Talks can be held?

Mr. Taniguchi: You can only speculate, because nothing actually has happened: the IAEA inspection team has not started its inspection, the shutdown and sealing of the reactor has yet to take place. Those are the initial steps that you have to verify. After the verification and after every party of the six-member dialogue has become confident of the results, only then will be discussed the timing and schedule of the Six-Party Talks.

VI. Questions concerning reports that former President Alberto Fujimori of the Republic of Peru will run in the upcoming upper house elections

Q: Regarding the Japanese media report today, some parliamentary members and the executive members of a Japanese party are now asking for former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori to run for the forthcoming Japanese upper house elections. First of all I would like to ask you--we are aware that he also holds Japanese nationality--is it technically possible for him to run in the Japanese upper house elections?

Mr. Taniguchi: You have actually pushed me into a corner, because I have no knowledge about it. Whether someone who has another nationality in addition to the Japanese one can run for office is something that I seriously don't know. There may be laws and regulations or case laws about that issue, but this is not the right ministry that you should pose that question to. I should refer you to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for that enquiry. Frankly, my knowledge is very much limited on that.

Q: May I then ask you about the possible impact of this move on Japanese diplomacy? If this becomes possible then what sort of impact do you think you would fear or expect?

Mr. Taniguchi: My answer to that question is something that you might have expected: I cannot answer a hypothetical question to that degree. Nothing has happened yet. It has just been reported by one or two reports in Japan, so I cannot answer to a question based on what is pretty much a speculation.

Q: I am aware that the election issue is to go to the Interior Ministry, but as for the nationality issue, is that not something to be dealt with in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Mr. Taniguchi: I don't think that is the case. As far as who can run for office and who cannot, that is not in the jurisdiction of the Foreign Ministry. You may remember that in order to run for office you have to be a registered dweller for as long as 35 days in advance of the election day, if my memory is correct (Note: This point turned out to be inaccurate. Under Japan's Public Office Election Law, there is no reference to such a requirement in order to run for a public office.). When it comes to other detailed regulations or laws, once again I have got no knowledge, sorry.

VII. Question concerning the US International Nuclear Fuel for Peace and Nonproliferation Act of 2007

Q: You probably heard that yesterday evening the US Congress passed a bill about establishing an international storage of nuclear fuel in a non-nuclear state. Do you think that Japan could be such a country--to accept this storage?

Mr. Taniguchi: Once again it is something that I can only speculate on. I can only say the following: The concerns over environmental degradation are going to be even more serious down the road, and nuclear technology is going to gain a renewed view from many countries. Japan is one of the few nations in the world that have technologies related to all the stages that a nuclear power plant and nuclear power generation necessitate. Japan's technological advance is something that you can count on.

Apart from that I frankly cannot answer your question.

VIII. Question concerning the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW)

Q: One more question. About cluster bombs: Some media today wrote that in the upcoming consultations on conventional weapons in Geneva, the US, the State of Israel, and probably Japan will express their willingness to open negotiations about the treaty restricting the usage of cluster bombs. Did you hear something about this? Is it true or not?

Mr. Taniguchi: It has always been the case that the CCW process is one that the Japanese Government has taken most seriously. It is also the case that no international regime is going to be effective without fully involving producers and huge users of the weapon in question. That has been the basic policy that the Japanese Government is sticking to. The Japanese Government is open also to more consultation processes, given that you have to take the humanitarian concerns into serious consideration. It is important to advance the dialogue in the world community.
That is probably what I should say to you.

IX. Question concerning confirmation from the Russian Federation of receipt of North Korean funds

Q: Did Japan receive any confirmations from the Russian side about receipt of the North Korean money?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is projected that through the Russian Central Bank the money in question has been transferred to the Russian bank with which North Korea has its own account. I have not checked and verified if the transaction has been completed.

X. Question concerning the upcoming vote in the US House of Representatives on the comfort women issue

Q: I believe on 26 June the in the US the House will vote, probably, for an apology from the Japanese Government on the comfort women issue. Would you give me your position on this?

Mr. Taniguchi: The Japanese Government, and notably Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, have expressed their own view many times in the past and I have no reason to change that stated view at this point. The view, as was expressed personally by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe himself when he met leaders of the US Congress back in April, is that he feels very much remorse and compassion and sorrow for the miserable situation that the comfort women had to go through, and the Japanese Government is held accountable for that. That being the repeated statement of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, I do not have anything to add still further at this point.

Back to Index