(* This is a provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only. The original text is in Japanese.)
Press Conference by Minister for Foreign Affairs Koichiro Gemba
Date: Friday, August 3, 2012, 8:34 a.m.
Place: In the Diet
Main topics:
- Deployment of the Ospreys in Japan
1. Deployment of the Ospreys in Japan
Hasegawa, Fuji TV: Mr. Morimoto, Minister of Defense, is on his visit to the United States from today to have a discussion with the U.S., including his test flight on the Osprey. What kind of discussion do you think they should have in order to dispel the people'’s concerns?
Minister Gemba: There have been discussions between Japan and the United States, especially concerning the Ospreys. There might be some misunderstandings among the people concerning this issue, but we did have various discussions with the U.S. – at times in a very heated manner – even before the arrival of the Ospreys. To make dispelling people'’s concerns over the aircraft and the needs in terms of security in the East Asia compatible, and we have concluded that we should suspend the operation of the Ospreys until its safety is confirmed. I do not think this conclusion means to put the schedule before everything else.
Under these circumstances, Mr. Morimoto, Minister of Defense, is visiting the United States. Needless to say, he must appropriately convey the Japanese people'’s concerns about the Ospreys to the U.S. side. In addition to that, I think he needs to thoroughly discuss the methods to provide the people with appropriate and sufficient information to address the needs in terms of security and to dispel safety concerns, and the measures to prevent further accidents, as well as the measures for Japan to independently check the safety of the aircraft. Although we have already started discussion about operational rules, I think we need to properly confirm their flexibility at a higher level. I think he may discuss various other issues, but these would be the main issues.
Hiyane, Okinawa Times: You met the representatives from the northern, central, and southern municipality conferences of Okinawa Prefecture yesterday. I would like to confirm again the two requests from them, which are the cancellation of the deployment of the Ospreys and, particularly concerning the representative from northern region of Okinawa, the cancellation of the transfer of the U.S. base to Henoko. Could you tell us what you think about their requests and how you plan to respond to them?
Minister Gemba: Concerning the requests, as I told you yesterday, there actually were heated discussions. You may not recognize that, though. However, there is the issue of defense or security of our country, including the Nansei Shoto Islands. On the other hand, since there is a safety issue, we do not put priority on the schedule. Under this situation, we would like to properly confirm the safety.
As for the issue of Henoko, I would like to commit myself to it. As Japan and the United States have released a 2+2 joint statement, we need to steadily implement it. Since the situation concerning the country'’s security is that severe, I think we should not send wrong messages.
The Government of Japan, including myself, had considerable discussions with the people of Okinawa before the finalization of the 2+2 joint statement, but after that, we may not have been able to have sufficient communication with them as we have had other issues to deal with. Therefore, yesterday, I once again felt the need to make efforts for such communication with them.
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