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Statement by His Excellency Yohei Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan on the occasion of the ASEAN 10 Plus 10 Meeting

July 28 2000

1. Asian Economy

   The Asian economy is rapidly recovering from the currency and economic crisis. It is time we revalued the strength and potential of the Asian economy. In order to prevent the recurrence of the crisis and to ensure sustainable economic development, it is also necessary to address with tenacity economic structural reform, such as the reform of the financial sector including the disposal of non-performing loans, the strengthening of corporate and government governance, the fostering of SMEs etc.

   The development of the Asian economy is essential to the development of the world economy, and the international community needs to continue to support the reform efforts of Asian countries. Japan, as an Asian country, has been working hard to implement financial assistance amounting to approximately US $ 80 billion and the comprehensive program for enhancing human resources development in spite of its own difficult economic and fiscal situation.

   In order to support socially vulnerable people such as the poor who have been seriously affected by the crisis, Japan has decided to create the "Japan Social Development Fund" in the World Bank and "Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction" in the ADB, to each of which it will contribute a sum of 10 billion yen for fiscal 2000.

2. Cooperation to Strengthen the Integration of ASEAN

   The IT revolution, which is accelerating globalization and the creation of an information-oriented society as we go into the 21st century, has become a great challenge for Asia as well. It is necessary for us to work to realize the prosperity of Asia and in turn the entire world in the 21st century, through the active promotion of ASEAN Information Infrastructure (AII), a part of the Hanoi Plan of Action, the e-ASEAN Initiative for the promotion of the AII and the e-Asia Initiative by ASEAN member states and their dialogue partners. Japan recently announced at the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit that it would prepare a comprehensive cooperation package, with a view to extending a total of US$15 billion over the next 5 years and that it intends to contribute to the promotion and wide-ranging linkage of IT through such assistance measures.

   With the progress of globalization, widening economic disparities have become a source of global concern. The Mekong River Basin Development is an important issue for ASEAN, in order for the ASEAN 10 to continue to develop as one, by overcoming disparities within the region. Japan will promote cooperation centered on the following 4 points: (i) improvement of wide-ranging infrastructure, (ii) promotion of private sector business activities, such as trade and direct investment in riparian countries, (iii) joint approaches to issues relating to the "social" sector such as poverty, the environment and infectious and parasitic diseases, which are of common interest to all riparian countries and (iv) human resources development. In particular, in the field of human resources development, Japan has been developing human resources in riparian countries in the Mekong Institute, in cooperation with New Zealand.

   Japan has been attaching special importance to human resources development and supporting the efforts of Asian countries. Japan will continue to steadily implement measures including the so-called Obuchi Plan.

3. Peace and Stability in the Region

   Needless to say, peace and stability are a prerequisite for the prosperity of this region, and it is important that ASEAN and its dialogue partners strengthen cooperation for the sake of regional peace and stability.

   The stability of Indonesia is essential to the stability of the region. Japan supports the Government of President Abdurrahman Wahid, who was elected through democratic procedure, and will spare no assistance for its reform efforts. With respect to provincial problems such as the situation in Aceh and Irian Jaya, Japan supports the territorial integrity of Indonesia and intends to support the current government indirectly in solving these problems.

   Japan will contribute to the peace and stability of this region by developing its relations with countries including the United States and China, both of which have considerable influence on the peace and stability of this region, and combining multilateral frameworks such as PMC, ARF and ASEAN+3.

4. Strengthening of the International Financial Architecture

   In order to prevent the recurrence of the currency crisis, appropriate approaches need to be taken, including economic structural reform efforts by each country. At the same time, however, based on the idea that strengthening the international financial architecture is also necessary in order to prevent sudden movements of short-term capital posing a serious impediment to economic structural reform in each country, it is important that ASEAN member states and their dialogue partners strengthen dialogue and cooperation.

   It is also important to promote regional cooperation in such a way that it complements the efforts of each country and the cooperation of the international community. The "Chiang Mai Initiative," I believe, should be assessed from such a point of view.

5. WTO

   Recently, there is mounting interest in bilateral free trade agreements in Japan. We consider them a complement to the multilateral trading system and believe that the strengthening of the multilateral trading system embodied in the WTO is an issue of the utmost importance. Japan will continue to make efforts for the early launch of a new round of trade negotiation at the WTO to reflect the wide-ranging interests of each country. Capacity building related to trade is especially important for developing countries to enjoy more benefit from the multilateral trading system and Japan will follow up this idea by taking concrete initiatives.

   Japan also strongly hopes for the early entry of China and other countries into the WTO. It would be extremely beneficial if we could, at this PMC, come to share the importance of strengthening cooperation between ASEAN member states and their dialogue partners, taking into account the consensus of developing countries, aiming at the early launch of a new round of trade negotiation at the WTO.

6. Transnational Issues

(1) Human Security

   With the progress of globalization and the increase in religious and ethnic conflicts, the threats to human survival from poverty, environmental degradation, conflicts, drugs, transnational organized crime, trafficking in women and children, piracy and infectious and parasitic diseases are becoming increasingly serious.

   Japan has, while ensuring national security and prosperity, placed emphasis on "human security," which is an approach where attention is paid to individuals. It is from this point of view that Japan established a "Human Security Fund" under the United Nations last year. In Asia, Japan has attached special importance to measures to improve poverty and strengthen social safety nets through cooperation in the development area. I should like to take this opportunity to refer to the issues of transnational organized crime, piracy and infectious and parasitic diseases.

(2) Transnational Organized Crime

   Regarding transnational organized crime, Japan intends to make every effort to cooperate with ASEAN, including in the "ASEAN Plan of Action to Combat Transnational Crime." Japan would like to encourage all countries to participate in the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime so that it can be adopted this year. Furthermore, international cooperation to strengthen criminal justice, law enforcement systems and the capabilities of developing countries are indispensable in dealing effectively with transnational organized crime and Japan intends to continue cooperation in these fields.

(3) Piracy

   Piracy, which has been occurring frequently in the East Asian region in recent years, is an issue which hinders trade and commerce in the region including Japan. It is therefore necessary to strengthen regional cooperation among the coastal states and other states concerned in order to prevent piracy. Japan recently held the first "Regional Conference on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships" in Tokyo with the participation of Asian countries, in which the participating countries agreed to strengthen mutual cooperation between authorities and to build networks to exchange information. I think highly of this as a first important step towards enhancing regional cooperation in combating piracy.

   In the light of the achievements of this conference, Japan intends to dispatch a government research mission to Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia in September to consult with these countries to strengthen regional cooperation in combating piracy.

(4) Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

   Infectious and parasitic diseases are a serious problem in Asia and they are not only a matter of health that threaten the lives of individuals but also a serious impediment to social and economic development.

   Japan announced the "Japan's initiative in the Fight against Infectious and Parasitic Diseases on the occasion of the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit" ("Okinawa ID (Infectious Diseases) Initiative") with the target of allocating a total of US$3 billion over the next 5 years. It has also decided to strengthen the assistance to NGO by making use of the "Human Security Fund", which it established under the United Nations. Japan intends to contribute to the fight against infectious and parasitic diseases in this region through this kind of assistance.

   Coordination between donor countries, international organizations and NGOs is also important in fighting infectious and parasitic diseases. Japan, under the framework of the "US-Japan Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective," dispatched a joint Japan-US project formulation mission to Cambodia at the end of June, where HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis were rampant. Furthermore, in order to fight against malaria and parasites in Asia, Japan launched the "Project for the Asian Center for International Parasite Control" aiming at developing human resources and constructing a network to be based in Thailand.

   I should like to emphasize the necessity of tackling these issues, by both ASEAN member states and their dialogue partners taking joint actions, recognizing that infectious and parasitic diseases pose a threat to the prosperity of Asia.

7. United Nations

   At the United Nations Millennium Summit, it is necessary for Asian countries to express actively their opinion on how to achieve peace and prosperity in the 21st century.

   For example, considering that the current constitution of the United Nations Security Council does not adequately represent the Asian member states, which total over 50, it is necessary to work to make its constitution one that reflects the current status of the international community. From such a vantage point, Japan believes it necessary to use the Millennium Summit for the early realization of Security Council reform so that the number of both permanent and non-permanent seats of both developed and developing countries will be increased.

   It is also necessary to emphasize "human security" in order to deal with the various transnational threats to humanity such as environmental degradation, infectious and parasitic diseases, transnational organized crime and poverty and to strengthen measures to promote disarmament and the non-proliferation of arms.

8. G8 Kyusyu-Okinawa Summit

(Not Available)