Press Conference by the Press Secretary October 28, 1997

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) sanction against Japanese carriers
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nobuaki Tanaka: To start with, I would like to read out a statement by the Press Secretary regarding the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission imposition of a sanction against Japanese carriers. On 27 October, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) announced its decision to collect US$1.5 million instead of the original US$4 million assessed fees for the month of September from the three Japanese carriers on the basis of its sanction which went into effect on 4 September, and that the three Japanese carriers had accepted this decision. The Government of Japan has consistently urged the Government of the United States of America to immediately withdraw the sanction, as it violates the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the United States, and its implementation might have a detrimental effect on Japan-U.S. economic relations. At the same time, the Government of Japan, very much aware of the importance of the sound and viable development of ports in Japan, has been engaged in continuous and lengthy discussions with both the relevant Japanese parties and the Government of the United States. It is welcomed that the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States reached substantive results on the major reform in Japan's port practices, and I would like to express my appreciation for the efforts of all of the parties concerned. However, it is very regrettable that the FMC has chosen to collect the fee under the sanction, even though partially. But, the first step toward reform in the ports is about to be taken. The Government of Japan requests that the Government of the United States engage in the bilateral consultation with Japan under Article 24 of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the United States in regard to the imposition of the sanction.

Q: In the case that the United States does not respond to Japan's demand for withdrawing these sanctions, what actions will Japan take?

Spokesman Tanaka: The FMC sanction is in violation of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the United States. Therefore, we believe that it has to be retrieved , and it was. With a view to achieving this objective, we have been working very patiently with the U.S. Administration. In fact, the FMC is an independent administrative commission of the United States, and the U.S. Administration is not in a position to give directives to the FMC. Therefore, we have been unable to deal directly with the FMC. We have now decided to request a formal consultation with the Government of the United States concerning the treatment of this fee. So, we hope that this path would produce such a result in the future.
Visit to Japan of Japanese wives in North Korea
Q: Could you confirm the report that the Government of Japan has contacted all 15 families of the so-called Japanese wives in North Korea? If that is true, has the date of visit been decided yet?

Spokesman Tanaka: The first list of the Japanese wives who wish to visit their homeland has been submitted by North Korean. We have examined this list and we conveyed our result on 24 October to North Korea. We believe that North Korea is examining these results. They have not as yet determined the definitive list of these individuals. We hope that the North Korean authorities will be able to determine, without any delay, the lists as well as the dates, duration and the routes of the visits of these Japanese wives. The visit has already been delayed somewhat. Although we hope that the visit will materialize at the earliest possible opportunity, it might also be somewhat difficult to make it happen within this month.

Q: I am still not clear as to whether the Government has contacted the families of the 15 Japanese wives. I read in a report that the Government has already contacted them. Is that true or not?

Spokesman Tanaka: I hesitate to go into detail about the exact process on how to determine the list of the people. There are many phases involved in this determination and I do not want to delve into these details. We just sent back the results of the examination we have made concerning the list of the people. I cannot tell you whether or not we have made contact with each family, etc. However, we have carried out our examination of the list and sent back these results to North Korea. We hope that they will examine the items and then determine their list of the people.
Upcoming Japan-Russian Federation Summit Meeting
Q: Regarding the Japan-Russian Federation Summit next week, does Japan expect certain positive results concerning the issue of the Northern Territories?

Spokesman Tanaka: First, I would like to say that at any summit meeting, we would expect positive results. Our objective this time is really to establish personal ties between the two Leaders. The environment that we want to create is that they deal with issues in a very informal, friendly manner. We do not really have the agenda for this meeting. The agenda encompasses a host of issues between the two countries. We hope through this meeting, we could make a positive step toward normalization of the relationship between the two countries. We certainly would like to pursue this pattern of informal meeting. The phrase, "this pattern," means a kind of confidence-building type of pattern of meetings of the two Leaders in the future. But certainly, we hope the personal ties and the confidence between the two Leaders would be strengthened.

Q: Have you prepared any specific proposals, because there is a lot of speculation in the Japanese newspapers, for example, that Prime Minister Hashimoto has accepted a Russian proposal to take part in a giant gas project in Siberia, that the Prime Minister may have suggested the possibility of mutual defense exercises and a lot of stories about a young managers training program for Russians, etc. So, what are the actual agenda items and what are not?

Spokesman Tanaka: The agenda is not formally set for this meeting. However, the issues that they would discuss have a certain scope. That would certainly include political ties, economic ties and certain security aspects of our relationship. On the economic front, they would discuss the idea of how to enhance the trade and investment relationship between the two countries, the training of people, particularly those who are managers and similar categories. And, the scope of discussions would include certain dialogue on energy issues. On investment issues, we are now examining many aspects. I cannot definitively tell you right at this stage, but certainly we will continue to look at the possibility of how we would strengthen our investment ties through such arrangements as, for example, the Investment Protection Agreement between the two countries. At this stage, we are not in a position to give you what is going to be discussed or what would be decided, because this is all up to the two Leaders. They may not touch on these issues, but we are certainly preparing the steps in these areas which the two Leaders think might be useful in case they think that they should enhance the relationship -- the economic area, etc. On the training of managers, as you know, Japan has already set up training centers in four cities. We would like to strengthen those type of operations. On energy issues, we would like to strengthen the dialogue between the two countries on energy issues, particularly with a view to exploiting to the maximum the potential of energy production in the Far East as far as Siberia. On security issues, we are certainly prepared to look into various confidence-building measures between the two countries, based on the fact that we have already exchanged our experiences in these fields. For example, we have seen the exchanges of visits of defense ministers in the past, we have exchanged port calls of ships and we have accumulated certain experiences already. We would like to see what other measures could be built up on these results of the past. We certainly would like to believe that the political aspect would be taken up, including the way in which we could normalize our relations by settling these territorial issues and by concluding our peace treaty between the two countries. We would certainly like to see that this type of dialogue would continue in the future. So, how we do that is going to be discussed, as well. However, it all depends on the two Leaders to decide.
Japan-Russian Federation relations
Q: Do you think it is possible that the Russian President may come to Japan next year?

Spokesman Tanaka: First, we would like to see Minister of Foreign Affairs Evengii Maksimovich Primakov of the Russian Federation visit Japan soon after this Summit, in order to further deepen the dialogue between the two countries. Obviously, we would like to see President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation visit Japan in the future. Nothing is decided, but certainly we would like him to pay a visit to this country. Hopefully, we will continue this informal type of contact between the two Leaders.

Q: Yesterday, the Russian Presidential Spokesman said that President Boris Yeltsin is likely to pay an official visit to Japan.

Spokesman Tanaka: We hope that this will materialize. However, it is up to the two Leaders to discuss these kinds of things. There is a limit as to what we can prepare for them. It is the visit of the President, so he himself has the final say. He will discuss this with Prime Minister Hashimoto in the meeting and then we will see.

Q: The Spokesman said Prime Minister Hashimoto's official visit to Russia is also on your agenda.

Spokesman Tanaka: We believe that at one point, he should make a visit to Russia, but nothing is worked out as yet. Maybe that is a bit farther down the road. But, the first step that we envisage now is Foreign Minister Primakov's visit to Japan soon after this Summit is over. Further steps will be ironed out as time goes by. Down the road, we certainly expect Prime Minister Hashimoto to visit Russia, but nothing is really decided at this stage.

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