Press Conference, 22 June 2007

The situation in the Republic of the Sudan
Initiation of a Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding, "Terakoya"
Ninth Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea and Related Matters
Visit to Japan by President Bharrat Jagdeo of the Republic of Guyana
Seventh Round of Negotiations for the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement
Third Round of Negotiations on the Japan-India Economic Partnership Agreement
Questions concerning North Korea
Follow-up questions concerning the Ninth Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea
Questions concerning the second phase of the Japan-ROK Joint History Research Committee

I. The situation in the Republic of the Sudan

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Thanks for coming. Let me briefly make six points at the outset.

Number one, of great concern to the world community is the situation still unfolding in the Republic of the Sudan. In Paris, the Government of the French Republic is going to have a meeting, called an Enlarged International Contact Group Meeting on Darfur, on Monday, 25 June. Mr. Takeshi Iwaya, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs will represent the Japanese Government there. That is number one.

II. Initiation of a Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding

Mr. Taniguchi: Number two, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to start from this fiscal year a Pilot Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding, by commissioning the program to Hiroshima University. Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso has many times referred to the program, saying that it would be to build a smallish school, like a "terakoya," to foster young men and women, Japanese as well as other Asian, so that they could work in the future as professional civilian field experts on the troubled spots and areas where, for building peace, their knowledge, expertise, and more than anything else, commitment are needed under the post-conflict circumstances.

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III. Ninth Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea and Related Matters

Mr. Taniguchi: Number three, Japan and the People's Republic of China will hold the Ninth Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea and Related Matters, on Tuesday, 26 June.

IV. Visit to Japan by President Bharrat Jagdeo of the Republic of Guyana

Mr. Taniguchi: Number four, President Bharrat Jagdeo of the Republic of Guyana will pay a working visit to Japan from Sunday, 24 June to Wednesday, 27. Apart from celebrating the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Guyana together with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the two leaders will discuss a wide array of issues, climate change and other environmental concerns included.

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V. Seventh Round of Negotiations for the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement

Mr. Taniguchi: Number five, the Seventh Round of Negotiations for the Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement is now taking place, yesterday and today, Thursday, 21 June and 22, in Tokyo. Representatives from the two countries, Japan and the Republic of Indonesia, are working hard to narrow down the agreement on the phrasing and wordings.

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VI. Third Round of Negotiations on the Japan-India Economic Partnership Agreement

Mr. Taniguchi: Number six, and lastly, the Third Round of Negotiations on the Japan-India Economic Partnership Agreement will be held from Monday, 25 June to Thursday, 28 June in New Delhi, the Republic of India.

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VII. Questions concerning North Korea

Q: In regards to US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill's visit to North Korea, does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have anything to say on that?

Mr. Taniguchi: A couple of things. The first one is that a telephone conversation took place between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso a couple of days ago, and there was an assurance from the US side that the concerns that Japanese Government has long held will certainly be mentioned by Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill to the North Korean side. The members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are looking forward to hearing what he has discussed with his North Korean counterpart on his return home.

Q: When is Mr. Hill going to be briefing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?

Mr. Taniguchi: I understand that he is going to visit Japan on his journey home, but I am not sure exactly what time and what day that is going to be.

Q: Will that be sometime today or tonight?

Mr. Taniguchi: I am not yet sure

Q: To what extent is the Japanese Government aware of the content of the discussion Mr. Hill and his North Korean counterpart will have, and what will be the Japanese Government's reaction like to the discussion?

Mr. Taniguchi: On the question as to the extent in which the Japanese Government has been aware of the scope and array of discussions that Mr. Hill is going to have with his counterpart in North Korea, I will say that that is a question that a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot answer. Therefore, I should refrain from making any comment on that.

Now, if I could say still a couple of things, that would be that the stance and positions of the Japanese Government have been well conveyed repeatedly to the US side, and there has been an agreement on that between the US and Japan. It is our understanding that those positions and stance of the Japanese Government this time around have been fully conveyed to the North Korean side.

Q: In regards to the nuclear issue, it seems likely that this first phase of the initial steps is likely to fulfill the primary phase, as they invited the IAEA, and they are likely to shut down Pyongyang facilities, but in terms of the Japanese side providing assistance, the Japanese Government has insisted that it will not contribute to these 100,000 tons of heavy fuel unless North Korea is more forthcoming about the abduction issue. Does that position still remain unchanged?

Mr. Taniguchi: Yes. I think your presupposition is still a farfetched one. The very likelihood itself is still a matter of question; how likely it is that North Korea is going to be complying with the February agreement on the initial steps. So one still has to look very carefully at what Pyongyang is going to do to fulfill the pledge that they made back in February. The initial steps have not yet started, and hope and expectation is that they will resume the process as soon as possible. What the Japanese Government has been saying to North Korea and to others is that we are ready to negotiate with North Korea if North Korea fulfills its pledge on the abduction issue and other issues. That is the position of the Japanese Government, in a nutshell, that has not changed at all.

Q: Will that not give an excuse for the North Koreans to be less forthcoming on these initial steps?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is a matter of interpretation, and I am not interested in giving you an interpretation of that sort. The fact of the matter is that Japan's economy is larger than Russia, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and China combined, and there will be no future of prosperity if North Korea is excluded from this burgeoning network of economies.

VIII. Follow-up questions concerning the Ninth Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea

Q: Projected to come next week is the discussion and consultation between China and Japan on the development of the East China Sea. What are they going to discuss?

Mr. Taniguchi: The discussion is certainly going to be about what sort of developmental projects should be envisioned between Japan and China regarding the East China Sea gas and oil field, but because this is an ongoing discussion, there is nothing that I can say further. Yet what I should call your attention to is that this consultation process has a deadline, as it were, because there is an agreement between the two countries that the experts involved in this negotiation are to report to their respective governments' leaders by the autumn of this year. Therefore, the pace of the consultation has been accelerated. So far they have met once every two months, and they will be meeting at the same tempo until the autumn time.

IX. Questions concerning the second phase of the Japan-ROK Joint History Research Committee

Q: Tomorrow, the scholars of Japan and the ROK are going to hold the fist talks of the second phase of the Joint History Research Committee. What are Japan and the Japanese Government hoping for out of these talks, and how different will it be from the first phase, given that in the first phase the Joint History Research Committee came up with a report two years ago which just basically highlighted all the differences between the two countries. What is the breakthrough or progress that Japan is hoping for this time?

Mr. Taniguchi: The question is a difficult one, because the Japanese Government has not made and will not make any interventions into the discussion process among the experts from the two countries, the ROK and Japan. Still, you could certainly hope that there is going to be a good result for both peoples, the Korean people and the Japanese people, to better understand the other's history and the other's interest in their history, but that is probably the maximum that I could say at this point. The members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are hoping that there will be a very fruitful discussion among the experts, and there will certainly be good results out of that.

Q: Are these experts government-appointed experts?

Mr. Taniguchi: They are government-appointed experts, yes.

Q: What would be their mandate, if they are going to talk, if they are going to set goals? Publication?

Mr. Taniguchi: As is the case with the similar arrangement between China and Japan, they are probably going to publish the findings and their report to the Japanese and ROK governments, but I do not know at the moment when the report is going to be made and how soon the discussion is going to conclude, so I am afraid I cannot answer that question.

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