Press Conference, 17 June 2008

Statement by Foreign Minister Koumura on the release of a Japanese college student who had been held hostage in Iran
Questions concerning Taiwan
Question concerning the issue of gas fields in the East China Sea
Follow up questions concerning Taiwan

I. Statement by Foreign Minister Koumura on the release of a Japanese college student who had been held hostage in Iran

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Hello and good afternoon.

To open the conference, I just want to draw your attention to the statement by Foreign Minister Koumura issued over the past weekend on the release of a Japanese college student who had been held hostage for more than eight months in Iran. The statement is already uploaded on the Ministry's website, so please refer to the site for the precise content of the statement.

Related Information (Press Release)

II. Questions concerning Taiwan

Q: What is the position of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Senkaku Islands?

Mr. Taniguchi: Can you elaborate a little bit more on what you mean by that?

Q: People in Taiwan, they don't really understand the word ikan in Japanese. Are they referring to expressing regret, rather than "I'm sorry"?

Mr. Taniguchi: I am not going into the discussion about the definition of the word for the following reason, because I gather balanced, common sense seems to have started to prevail, both in Taiwan and in Japan, and considering how important the bilateral relationship is for both the Japanese and the Taiwanese, now I think is the time to get back to normalcy, and start having constructive relationships, as both Taiwan and Japan have long held.

III. Question concerning the issue of gas fields in the East China Sea

Q: Can you comment on the negotiations about common exploration of gas fields between China and Japan in the East China Sea? How far are we away from final agreement?

Mr. Taniguchi: We are very much close to the final point, but I am saying we have got one last mile to cover. For more detail, I should refrain, myself, from making any comment on that.

IV. Follow up questions concerning Taiwan

Q: The representative of the Taiwanese Government who was stationed in Japan already submitted his resignation. What is the view of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on that? What view does Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have vis-à-vis the possible candidate for his post?

Mr. Taniguchi: To use this incident as an important lesson for the future, both Taiwan and Japan should do their utmost to enhance the bilateral relationship. Whoever is going to succeed as the Taiwanese representative in Japan, it would be great if that person is as connected as his predecessor was with the Japanese people, who has many friends among the Japanese, once again to further cement the relationship that is based on heart-to-heart ties between Taiwan and Japan.

Q: I want to know whether this is the first case that a Taiwanese ship got clipped? But before that, have you had such kind of thing happen to Japan and Taiwan, for example, to arrest some of the fishermen of Taiwan?

Mr. Taniguchi: The question for me is hard to answer. I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge about what happened in the past between Taiwan and Japan, but to my knowledge this is one of the unprecedented events.

Q: It has been said that the incident between the fisherman's boat and the Japanese Coast Guard would affect the Japanese-Taiwanese relationship. What do you say from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan's side?

Mr. Taniguchi: Whether or not the incident affected the Taiwanese-Japanese relationship, the answer is yes, it did. It affected the bilateral relationship if you take into consideration that the press in Taiwan has reported on this day-in, day-out for the last several days, which led the Taiwanese representative in Japan to submit a resignation. So I should say the incident affected the bilateral relationship. Now, as to the question of whether the Japanese attitudes and views toward Taiwan have changed due to this incident, the answer I can give you is, definitely, no. Taiwan is an important partner in many respects for Japan. From Taiwan a lot of people are coming to Japan and the Japanese tourism industry is the industry that has prospered because of the influx of Taiwanese people. The economic relationship, trade and investment relationships, have prospered all the more between Taiwan and Japan. In view of those aspects, I think Japan's views and attitudes toward Taiwan have been affected very little by this incident.

Q: A video clip was presented by the captain of the fishing boat, and he made a case that the crash was brought about intentionally by the Japanese Coast Guard's ship. What will the Japanese Government do about this?

Mr. Taniguchi: Errors on both sides, I mean on the Japanese side and on the Taiwanese side, have been reported to the investigator's office, and it is now the investigator's turn to really look into what happened between the two ships. They are going to decide whether or not they should send their case to the court. Because what happened is actually being investigated by the investigator's office, it is not appropriate for the Japanese Government to make any comment on that.

Q: The Japanese Representative Office in Taiwan is running a warning on its website, giving an advance warning that the Japanese residents in Taiwan take utmost care. Is this because of an instruction from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Would the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs do the same on its own website?

Mr. Taniguchi: I think that there must have been a close consultation between the Office in Taiwan and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order for the warning to be sent out. Whether the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan is going to do similarly, in that it is going to post a similar warning on its website, my answer is: that's very unlikely. There is no plan at the moment for us to do that.

Q: There are talks in Taiwan that the negotiation about the fishing rights between Taiwan and Japan should be resumed as soon as possible. What have you heard about this from the Japanese side? Is it going to be likely that the negotiation is going to be resumed?

Mr. Taniguchi: What you are talking about is the Japan-Taiwan private sector fishery industry negotiation. The last negotiation took place about three years ago, and the last preliminary dialogue took place about a year and a half ago. So you could say it has been some time since Taiwan and Japan held the last negotiation. Because Taiwan and Japan must live in peace together, and because we are talking about a limited amount of maritime resources, fish and so on, it is desirable that Taiwan and Japan continue to talk on this issue. When exactly are Taiwan and Japan going to be able to resume this dialogue and negotiation? I don't know, but the Taiwanese Government and the Japanese Government will start talking about when that should happen.

Q: I heard that on the 16th the United States side spokesman already talked about this case, and he is warning that Taiwan and Japan should be solving these things calmly. Does Japan have any further comments on this?

Mr. Taniguchi: I won't give any comment to what the United States Government official has said on this, but the point that he referred to is actually what is materializing right now between Taiwan and Japan, namely both Taiwan and Japan have decided to deal with this issue in a very calm and restrained fashion. I think this is a very, very good development, and once again, one should hope that the bilateral relationship will get back to normalcy as soon as possible.

Q: It has been said the protest ship from Taiwan is not going to leave the Taiwanese port headed for the Senkaku Islands, but the other report says a similar vessel is going to depart from Hong Kong, joined by the Taiwanese, and head for the Senkaku Islands to make a protest. What is your view on this?

Mr. Taniguchi: No matter who that would be, someone, some vessels are going to enter Japanese territorial waters to do such a thing, the Japanese Government is going to respond with an adequate policing action. That is to say, they are going to first make a warning against the incoming people or vessels, and if that would not be enough, a further action, a policing action, would likely be taken by the Japanese Coast Guard.

Q: The question is about the conversation between the Japanese representative Mr. Ikeda and the Taiwanese Foreign Minister which is reported to have taken place yesterday, when the protest ship was about to enter Japanese territories. It has been said that Mr. Ikeda gave a warning to the Taiwanese side and advised that such an action should not take place.

Mr. Taniguchi: It was not just a one-off conversation. The Japanese representative made a request to the Taiwanese side that such a thing should be stopped from happening. This was when the protest ship was about to enter the Japanese territorial waters. Upon hearing that actually the Taiwanese ships entered Japanese territorial waters, again this is about what happened yesterday, on the morning of the 16th, once again the Japanese representative made a request to the Taiwanese side, conveying the grave concern to them, that the ships should be returned home immediately.

Q: From now on, what kind of communication is going to take place between Taiwan and Japan? Is it primarily going to take place in Taiwan or in Tokyo? What is important for both Taiwan and Japan is to have an effective channel of communications.

Mr. Taniguchi: It is not the kind of issue on which we should decide that this should be discussed in Tokyo only or this should not be discussed in Tokyo. The simple answer would be: both in Tokyo and in Taipei we have got to talk with one another. That being said, the prime point of communication for the bilateral relationship is at the representative offices, so for instance from the Japanese side, the Office that we have in Taipei is going to be the prime point of communication with the Taiwanese side. What you said about the importance of us, Taiwan and Japan, having good effective communication - I cannot agree more on that. It is always important for Taiwan and Japan to have effective channels of communications.

Q: Many Congressmen in Taiwan still think that the Government of Japan should make an official apology and think of some words more concrete for them to understand. Are you planning to do that?

Mr. Taniguchi: I can understand their concern, because if I were hit by a huge truck while I was riding on a bicycle, I would have thought that the blame should only be on the larger side, which is the truck. Suppose this was a traffic accident - I would have said things like that. Yet as is often the case with accidents of this sort, normally it is both sides that have made errors. I gather the Taiwanese fishing boat, despite the fact that the Coast Guard ship of Japan was coming closer to the fishing boat, maintained its autopilot, and did not change it into manual. That has been detected as one cause that led to the accident, the crash between the Taiwanese and Japanese ships. So in that sense the Japanese Government said that it was very much regrettable that the incident occurred, and that although the concerns and anger of the Taiwanese Congressman are understandable, I should hope that a cool-headed approach and common sense would prevail among them in order for both Taiwan and Japan to once again cherish an otherwise very, very good relationship.

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