Press Conferences

Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida: Yesterday the Advisory Panel on Reconstruction of the Legal Basis for Security held its seventh meeting and submitted its report. Following that the report was discussed at the Four Ministers’ Meeting, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented the Government’s basic direction for moving the discussions forward.

In the future, based on this basic direction, the issues will be discussed fully with the ruling parties to begin with, and based also on the opinion of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau, the Government’s response will be considered. Discussions will also take place in the Diet, and we intend to continue our efforts to explain the issues carefully to the public and secure their understanding.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs intends to explain the issues carefully and transparently to the countries concerned, including neighboring countries.

Minister Kishida: At the Cabinet meeting a short time ago, it was agreed that Ms. Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, will be invited to pay an official visit to Japan from May 25 to 28. This visit to Japan is expected to be an opportunity to build a comprehensive partnership.

Minister Kishida: The third round of consultations on the agreement to supplement the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) on environmental stewardship is scheduled to be held at the director level today, in U.S. time, at the United States Department of Defense.

Nakamura, Nippon TV: My question concerns the right of collective self-defense. From here on, discussions will begin within the ruling parties, but on the other hand, the review of the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation is approaching at the end of the year, and if possible I would like to ask about the consistency, or rather the relationship to this. In other words, I assume that the deadline vis-à-vis the right of collective self-defense has not been decided.

Minister Kishida: As you pointed out, the right of collective self-defense is to be discussed by the Government and ruling parties from here on. So at the present time, nothing is decided, including changes to the interpretation of the Constitution and other matters. At the same time, where the review of the Guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation is concerned, an understanding was reached in the Japan-U.S. “2+2” meeting last year that work on reviewing the Guidelines would be completed by the end of this year. Consequently, under the present conditions I believe that the work on reviewing the Guidelines will take place according to the current constitutional interpretation.

Nakamura, Nippon TV: Do you hope to reflect this discussion on reviewing the right of collective self-defense as much as possible in the Japan-U.S. Guidelines?

Minister Kishida: It will be necessary to observe how the discussions will progress and so on, but the Government and ruling parties will undertake discussions on various issues including the right of collective self-defense without setting a deadline. Because the work on reviewing the Guidelines is to be completed by the end of this year, I think that under the present circumstances it is inevitable that the discussions will take place with the current constitutional interpretation as a premise.

Nakamura, Nippon TV: Is it correct to understand that the discussions will not take a considerable amount of time and that the revision of the Japan-U.S. Guidelines will not go beyond the end of the year?

Minister Kishida: As was made clear in the “2+2” meeting, efforts will be made with the goal of completing the work on the Guidelines by the end of this year.

Watanabe, NHK: The conflict between China and Viet Nam has escalated considerably, and the situation has reached the point where Chinese people were killed in Viet Nam. What is the Government of Japan’s view on this situation, and what does the Government expect of the countries concerned going forward?

Minister Kishida: Regarding the situation of the anti-China protests in Viet Nam, to begin with, we are currently in the process of confirming the actual situation and the facts with the Vietnamese authorities. At the present point in time no reports have been received that any Japanese national staying in Viet Nam has suffered any harm.

However, there are reports that deaths and injuries have occurred overall, and I am deeply worried at this deterioration in the situation. Protest activities should always be carried out peacefully, and violence must not be resorted to. I have asked the Vietnamese authorities once again to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals and Japanese companies. I intend to continue to watch developments closely and expend all possible means to ensure safety.

Watanabe, NHK: That being the case, will the Government of Japan say something to the authorities in China and Viet Nam regarding the conflict?

Minister Kishida: With regard to this situation, the Government of Japan has already communicated both to China and Viet Nam our message that Japan believes all the parties concerned should refrain from taking unilateral action and resolve the matter peacefully, according to international law and through dialogue.

Torinari, Kyodo Press: Yesterday, director-general level talks were held between Japan and the ROK, and consultations on the comfort women issue continued. Japan’s position is that this issue has been resolved based on the 1965 Japan-ROK agreement. But do you think that in the future, Japan will have to implement some sorts of measures to meet the demands of the ROK?

Minister Kishida: The second round of Japan-ROK director-general-level talks was held yesterday. The discussions included the issues of concern: the comfort women issue and the issue of the requisition of labor during the war, and so on.

As you noted, Japan has taken the basic position with regards to the comfort women issue, and we clearly explained this. I am aware that the next round of director-general-level talks will be held in June, and we will continue to discuss various problems. As these talks are ongoing at the current point in time, my understanding is that no final conclusions on these problems have yet been reached.