Press Conference, 22 April 2008

Letters by Prime Minister Fukuda to the UN Secretary-General and World Bank President
Statement by the G8 Foreign Ministers
Announcement of visits to Japan by foreign dignitaries
Japan-Republic of Korea Summit Meeting
Questions concerning the Japan-EU Summit Meeting
Questions concerning TICAD IV
Question concerning the proposed stake in J-Power
Questions concerning Japan-Korea shuttle diplomacy
Follow up question concerning TICAD IV
Questions regarding the Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea and Other Matters
Question concerning outreach sessions at the G8 Summit
Questions concerning the elections in Nepal
Questions concerning press registration for TICAD IV

I. Letters by Prime Minister Fukuda to the UN Secretary-General and World Bank President

Assistant Press Secretary Hiroshi Suzuki: Hello and good afternoon. I have several announcements to start off with.

First, on the G8, last Friday, the 18th, Prime Minister Fukuda took the initiative, as G8 Chair, to send letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank President Robert Zoellick regarding the issue of rising food prices. In these letters, Prime Minister Fukuda expressed his intention to address this issue with a strong sense of urgency in the upcoming G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in July. The outline of these letters is posted on the Ministry's website.

Related Information (Press Release)

II. Statement by the G8 Foreign Ministers

Also, last Thursday, the 17th, the G8 Foreign Ministers issued a statement on the Republic of Zimbabwe. I must point out that it is rather rare that G8 Foreign Ministers issue such a statement. In this statement, the G8 Foreign Ministers expressed their deep concern on the non-announcement of the result of the presidential election, and fully supported SADC's call for the result to be released expeditiously and endorsed SADC's call that any verification of the vote must be done in the presence of all the candidates and/or their agents. As G8 Chair, Japan will take the lead in a discussion on African development at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit meeting as well as at TICAD IV (Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development). The full text of the statement in English is available on the Ministry's website.

Furthermore, regarding the G8, the Ministry will hold press briefings on press logistics of the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kyoto and the Hokkaido Toyako Summit in the afternoon of 30 April and 9 May. If you plan to cover these meetings, please attend one of the briefing sessions in order to get acquainted with the application procedures for Press ID Cards, etc.

That's all about the G8, and now I move on to dignitaries' visits.

Related Information (Press Release)

III. Announcement of visits to Japan by foreign dignitaries

President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China, will visit Japan on a state visit from 6 May to 10 May. This will be the first state visit to Japan by President Hu, and indeed the very first sate visit by the Chinese President in the 21st Century. The Japanese Government warmly welcomes President Hu's visit to Japan. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang visited Japan from 17 April to 20 April to prepare the ground for this visit. We look to President Hu's visit to further strengthen the win-win relationship between Japan and China, as well as to further expand people-to-people exchange, particularly youth exchange.

And, from the Republic of Slovenia, Prime Minister Janez Jansa is now paying his first visit to Japan. He is also visiting Japan in his capacity as President of the European Council, and tomorrow, Prime Minister Fukuda, Prime Minister Jansa and President Barroso will hold the 17th Japan-EU Summit Meeting. This is the first such summit meeting since the signing of the Lisbon Treaty.

IV. Japan-Republic of Korea Summit Meeting

Lastly, yesterday, Monday, the 21st, Prime Minister Fukuda and the Republic of Korea President Lee Myung-bak held a good summit meeting. This was the first visit to Japan by President Lee, and the fist meeting in a re-started shuttle diplomacy by the leaders of both countries. It was a good start for building a new era in the Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) relations, and a good start towards a mature partnership between the two countries. Prime Minister Fukuda announced that he would visit the ROK in the latter half of this year.

Related Information (Press Release)

V. Questions concerning the Japan-EU Summit Meeting

Q: My question is related to what you have announced. Tomorrow there is going to be a summit meeting between Japan and the EU. What is Japan's expectation or what kind of results are you expecting from this summit meeting?

Mr. Suzuki: The EU is an important partner for Japan to address various issues facing the international community. We welcome this opportunity for leaders to discuss any issues of mutual interest, bilaterally, regionally and multilaterally, but given the fact that this year Japan will chair the G8 Summit, naturally we would expect the leaders to discuss important issues which will be much discussed towards the G8 Summit, such as climate change, Africa and development and various political issues of mutual interest and concern.

Q: Are you expecting a specific agreement?

Mr. Suzuki: I have nothing on that. The leaders are free to discuss anything, so let's wait and see the results of the meeting.

VI. Questions concerning TICAD IV

Q: This is about what you have announced about the G8 Foreign Ministers' statement on Zimbabwe. Is Robert Mugabe going to be welcome at TICAD IV if he plans to come next month and will the Zimbabwe issue be discussed at TICAD?

Mr. Suzuki: First, as far as I know, I do not think we have received any definitive response as to who will represent Zimbabwe for the upcoming TICAD IV meeting.

Q: If Mugabe intends to come, what will be Japan's position?

Mr. Suzuki: Let's wait and see Zimbabwe's response rather than trying to answer your hypothetical question at this juncture.

Q: Is the issue of Zimbabwe going to be on the agenda at the TICAD meeting?

Mr. Suzuki: The agenda for TICAD IV is being firmed up through various consultations involving the Japanese Government and our partners in Africa. At this juncture, we do not have any definitive agenda per se, but we would expect that the leaders who will be gathering for TICAD IV will discuss a number of major issues such as boosting African growth, ensuring human security including the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and peacebuilding. Also, climate change naturally will be one of the important issues to be discussed, so these are by and large, major pillars of the agenda that we envisage, but regarding your specific question of Zimbabwe, I have not heard anything definitive.

Q: I am asking this question because in any development discussion these days, democracy and good governance are also topics of discussion.

Mr. Suzuki: What I can say at this juncture is that the specific agenda is being worked out through various consultation processes, so again, let's wait and see until the agenda firms up.

Related Information (TICAD IV)

VII. Question concerning the proposed stake in J-Power

Q: First, has Japan offered any official reaction to the statement by Peter Mandelson concerning the proposed stake in J-Power by TCI (The Children's Investment Fund)? He is not a business man; he is an official of the EU so presumably it might call for an official reaction or rejoinder of some sort. Are you familiar with this?

Mr. Suzuki: Not as far as I am informed.

Q: There has been no plan for any official statement in retort to this?

Mr. Suzuki: As far as I have in front of me, I have nothing on that. I need to check into it.

VIII. Questions concerning Japan-Korea shuttle diplomacy

Q: Regarding the ROK, this term "shuttle diplomacy" is used quite often, but how does that differentiate Japan's diplomacy with the ROK from Japan's diplomacy with any other country? There are frequent visits by Heads of States to various countries, but it is not usually referred to as shuttle diplomacy, so are we talking about something special in the case of the ROK?

Mr. Suzuki: We refer to these frequent visits by the top leaders between the ROK and Japan as such because we had this framework already in the past, which was in a way suspended. One of the things the Prime Minister agreed when he visited Seoul and attended President Lee Myung-bak's inauguration and subsequently had talks with President Lee Myung-bak was to re-start this shuttle diplomacy.

Q: And it means annual visits by both leaders?

Mr. Suzuki: It means the leaders will take turns in visiting each other's country in a frequent way.

Q: But that is not substantially different from the Japan-China situation, is it? There are frequent visits by President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Fukuda, so it is just a form of words really. It does not mean that diplomacy between Japan and the ROK is at a higher level than the diplomacy between Japan and other countries, does it?

Mr. Suzuki: I think that terminology is used because that framework existed by agreement between top leaders. It is a bit difficult to answer your question in a direct manner because you raised a very broad question. China is an important neighbor for Japan, and we warmly welcome President Hu's visit; it is an important visit and we very much want to make it a great success. The ROK is our important partner, and President Lee Myung-bak's visit was a great success. I think the two leaders succeeded in opening a new chapter of the relationship. It is not my job to really try to compare one with the other; they are both important.

Q: I just wanted to educate myself. On this visit, what is regarded as being the main achievement? Cooperation between Japan and the ROK on North Korea? That is regard as the main achievement, isn't it?

Mr. Suzuki: President Lee Myung-bak's visit achieved a number of important goals. On the whole, as I mentioned, this was the first visit by President Lee in the context of re-started shuttle diplomacy and Prime Minister Fukuda will visit the ROK in turn sometime by the end of year. And they agreed on the importance of building our future-oriented, forward-looking bilateral relationship towards a mature partnership. They also agreed to boost people-to-people exchange, particularly youth exchange. They also agreed to have a working group meeting with a view towards re-starting bilateral negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), so in many areas they achieved concrete results and these results form a very good basis for our two countries to work together for a mature partnership.

Q: The first meeting of that working group will be when?

Mr. Suzuki: We do not have the dates yet, but I think sometime in June.

Q: Outside of the Six-Party Talks, the two countries are not proposing new bilateral initiatives on North Korea, are they?

Mr. Suzuki: On North Korea, the two leaders agreed to strengthen our bilateral cooperation, and strengthen our dialogue, consultation and cooperation on North Korea.

Q: In connection with the shuttle diplomacy, is shuttle diplomacy used only for Japan and the ROK, in Japan's context?

Mr. Suzuki: I believe that is the case.

Q: One newspaper defines shuttle diplomacy as top leaders' visit to each other's country at least once a year.

Mr. Suzuki: Let me look into the definition and get back to you.

Q: I imagine the difference is that in the case of Japan and the ROK, they have agreed specifically to have at least annual visits, whereas with other countries it is not necessarily pre-agreed. I do not know, is that the definition? There has to be some definition.

Mr. Suzuki: I will check on it and get back to you.

IX. Follow up question concerning TICAD IV

Q: In connection with TICAD IV, how many countries have expressed their intention to attend?

Mr. Suzuki: I do not have any definitive figure in front of me now. My understanding is that we are inviting 53 African countries and more than 40 African countries have expressed their intention to attend, either at the Head of the Government or the Head of State level. We are also inviting the heads of various international organizations and various NGOs, so I would say, roughly speaking, we are expecting something like 1,500 people. This is a ballpark figure and these are tentative responses, so naturally these will be subject to change.

Related Information (TICAD IV)

X. Questions regarding the Japan-China Consultations concerning the East China Sea and Other Matters

Q: How do you assess the chance of China and Japan announcing some kind of agreement on the sharing of oil and gas resources in the East China Sea during President Hu Jintao's visit? Do you assess the chances as zero, or 10 percent?

Mr. Suzuki: The consultations are still ongoing on the issue of joint development of the East China Sea natural gas development, so let's wait and see how these consultations go.

Q: Some months ago there seemed to be a certain amount of optimism that some breakthrough might be achieved when President Hu came. Would you say that those expectations have now been downgraded?

Mr. Suzuki: I would say that these negotiations are, by nature, very difficult negotiations. If you look at examples of any other countries, naturally they are very difficult, very technical, and usually those are the kind of negotiations that take a long time. So the important thing is that we are engaged fully with our Chinese counterparts and both sides share the importance of finding a new ground on this issue.

Related Information (Press Release)

XI. Question concerning outreach sessions at the G8 Summit

Q: Will there be any kind of outreach meeting at the G8 Summit in Toyako with heads of China or other countries, or is it strictly the G8?

Mr. Suzuki: There will be two outreach meetings: one on Africa and development and one on climate change. China is invited to the climate change outreach meeting. There has already been an announcement on those two outreach meetings. You can look at the Foreign Ministry's website. Each outreach invites eight countries. I do not have a specific list in front of me, but if you look at the website, you can get the names of the eight countries for each outreach; one outreach on climate change and the other outreach on Africa and development.

XII. Questions concerning the elections in Nepal

Q: This is on the Nepal elections. How does Japan assess this? Does Japan support the United States' position?

Mr. Suzuki: We have been following the elections for this constitution making assembly and we have dispatched a delegation of election observers in collaboration with the international community. With regard to your specific question, for the sake of accuracy, let me look into it and get back to you.

Q: I did not see any official statement yet from the Japanese Government. There is a statement of election monitors.

Mr. Suzuki: I need to check if we have said anything.

Related Information (Press Release)

XIII. Questions concerning press registration for TICAD IV

Q: I have not registered for TICAD yet. How can I do that?

Mr. Suzuki: Press registration started just recently, so please go to the Foreign Ministry's website.

Q: It has to be done via the website? There is no other way?

Mr. Suzuki: First of all, you get all the information by going to that page and it has a certain set of directions for you to follow.

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