Press Conference by the Press Secretary 12 May, 1998

1. Comment by Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka on the nuclear tests conducted by the Republic of India
2. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Foreign Ministry on the proposal by the United States of America on the Palestinian Track
3. Publication of the "Interim Report" by the Working Group on Electronic Commerce of the Advanced Information and Telecommunications Society Promotion Headquarters of the Government of Japan
4. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Foreign Ministry on the killing of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi in the Republic of Guatemala
5. Visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Park Chung Soo of the Republic of Korea to Japan from 21 to 23 May
6. Response of the Government of Japan to the nuclear testing by the Republic of India
7. Participation of the Government of Japan in the Middle East peace process
8. Position of the Government of Japan to film release

1. Comment by Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka on the nuclear tests conducted by the Republic of India

   First, on the nuclear testing by the Republic of India. Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanezo Muraoka issued a comment today. I think you may have the text but let me read it out. On the afternoon of 11 May, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Republic of India announced that India conducted underground nuclear testing. It is extremely regrettable that India conducted such testing, resisting the global trend to ban nuclear testing, while the international community including Japan had repeatedly requested the new Government of India to exercise maximum self-restraint on nuclear policies. Japan strongly urges the Government of India to stop its development of nuclear weapons immediately. Further, Japan calls on the countries concerned in the region to exercise self-restraint in order not to let the Indian nuclear testing harm the stability of the region. Today, Minister for Foreign Affairs Keizo Obuchi called in Indian Ambassador Siddharth Singh in Japan and he conveyed this message to the Ambassador and at the same time Foreign Minister Obuchi said to Ambassador Singh that we will have to consider some sort of step regarding such matters as our economic cooperation to India. The details are to be worked out.

2. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Foreign Ministry on the proposal by the United States of America on the Palestinian Track

   The second announcement concerns the Middle East peace process. I think you have the statement in my name with you. The Government of Japan thinks that it is regrettable that the meetings which had been planned to be held in Washington, D.C. on 11 May with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu of the State of Israel and President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority, were postponed. Japan welcomes the proposals of the United States of America indicated at the meetings in London on 4 and 5 May, and highly values the United States efforts toward a breakthrough of the current stalemate in the peace process. While encouraged to see that the Palestinians have expressed their intention to accept the proposals, Japan strongly hopes that the Government of the State of Israel also responds positively to the United States proposals, from a broader perspective, to push the peace process forward.

3. Publication of the "Interim Report" by the Working Group on Electronic Commerce of the Advanced Information and Telecommunications Society Promotion Headquarters of the Government of Japan

   My next announcement concerns what may sound like an esoteric subject, but a subject of increasing importance in this modern world: that is the question of rule making on electronic commerce. Those of you who are used to using computers might have much better knowledge of the subject than I do. When we talk about electronic commerce, we are talking about commercial transactions conducted through the use of the Internet which may be the offer of a product and the response to that offer or it may also include payment and settlement of accounts through the use of the electronic media. In that sense it will encompass such transactions as electronic payment and electronic money. The need for rule making on this subject has been recognized by the international community for some time. The Government's Working Group on Electronic Commerce of the Advanced Information and Telecommunications Society Promotion Headquarters has conducted its study and it issued an interim report yesterday. Let me briefly explain to you what this is all about. I mentioned earlier the increasing recognition of the need for standards and rule making in this area by the international community. Basic government stances, major issues and guidelines for their solution were published by the European Union (EU) in April 1997 and by the United States in July 1997 and there have been subsequent discussions on the subject, especially on international rules in this area in such fora as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Japan, on its part has been carrying out its study and the Interim Report is the product of that. There is to be a final report to be made no later than June and on the basis of this report on the part of Japan and the on basis of the studies and the work carried out by other countries, there is to be an OECD Ministerial Conference on the subject this coming October in Ottawa. The Interim Report talks about three principles governing this area. The first is private sector initiative in the sense that much of this of course takes place in the private sector. There is also the need to keep pace with very fast progress in technology in this area and of course the private sector is the one well versed in the subject. There is also the principle of the government providing the groundwork and the notion there is that people can argue whether it is the private sector that is primarily responsible for this activity or whether it is the government which is primarily responsible. There are different views within the international community but our approach is that the role of the government is to provide the groundwork to encourage private sector activity. The third principle is international harmonization. Electronic commerce is by nature borderless and hence the need for international harmonization of government efforts to establish institutional frameworks. The intention of Japan is to participate actively in the international rule-making process.

4. Statement by Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations of the Foreign Ministry on the killing of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi in the Republic of Guatemala

   The Government of Japan expresses its sincere condolences to the people of the Republic of Guatemala for the killing of Bishop Juan Jose Gerardi of Guatemala on 26 April, who had made long-time efforts to improve the human rights situation in Guatemala. Since the peace agreement in December 1996, the Government and the people of Guatemala have been investigating cases of human rights violations committed during the civil war to bring about reconciliation among the people and establish a firm peace. This murder of Bishop Gerardi is a heinous incident which could have an adverse effect on the peace process. The Government of Japan expresses its deep concern. Taking account of the serious effect of the crime on the Guatemalan society, the Government of Japan hopes that the truth about this event will be brought to light impartially and quickly. The Government of Japan also strongly hopes and believes that the Government of Guatemala will continue to implement steadily the peace-related agreements so that peace will be firmly rooted in the Guatemalan society.

5. Visit by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Park Chung Soo of the Republic of Korea to Japan from 21 to 23 May

   Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Park Chung Soo of the Republic of Korea will be visiting Japan from Thursday, 21 May to Saturday, 23 May to meet with Foreign Minister Obuchi. This is a part of the dialogue which is evolving between the Government of Japan and the new Government of the Republic of Korea and you may recall that Foreign Minister Obuchi went to Seoul in March and met his counterpart Foreign Minister Park on 21 March. We expect that the two Foreign Ministers will be discussing a broad range of subjects including bilateral relations as well as the situation on the Korean Peninsula, bearing in mind the prospect of the visit of President Kim Dae Jung of the Republic of Korea to Japan sometime this autumn. We do hope that through these exchanges the two Foreign Ministers will be able to build and even closer relationship of mutual trust.

6. Response of the Government of Japan to the nuclear testing by the Republic of India

   Q: A question about India. I guess there are further measures being considered. What sort of measures are being considered? What kind of economic sanctions might be part of the equation?

   A: They are being considered, so it is just a bit early in the day to talk about specifically what sort of sanctions or actions might be contemplated but as I said earlier, Foreign Minister Obuchi did say to Ambassador Singh of India that we will have to consider something in the area of economic cooperation. This is in light of our Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) Charter which says that we will be mindful of the activities on the part of the recipient countries about weapons of mass destruction. So there is a reason for concern and there is a reason for translating our concern into some kind of action. Exactly what sort of action we will be giving some further thought. I might add also that this news has come just a few days before Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto goes to Birmingham for the Group of Eight (G-8) Summit and the question of what sort of issues may be taken up in the G-8 among the leaders is something that needs to be worked out among the participants. The United Kingdom, being in the Chair of the Summit this year, will be responsible for coordinating the possible agenda, but we feel on Japan's part there is a very good reason, given the seriousness of the issue, for this to be taken up in the Summit and convey a clear message on this to India and to the international community. This is something that we may be working on quite quickly to have it discussed at the Summit.

   Q: How much ODA is at stake? How much ODA has Japan extended to India?

   A: I will give a two-part answer to your question. One is the size of our ODA to India. In 1997, we extended on a commitment basis, loans amounting to about 133 billion yen, grant assistance again on a commitment basis amounting to 3.5 billion yen and we have technical cooperation in addition to this. That is the magnitude of the ODA to India. When I talk about the possibility of some sort of steps, that is another question. I am talking about the size of the total ODA. Exactly what we might do about it is something that we will be looking at.

   Q: Regarding the 133 billion yen, is that the figure for May 1997 or is that the cumulative commitment?

   A: I believe it is the commitment in 1997 which means that nearly half of the ODA that India receives comes from Japan. Japan is by far the number one donor to India.

   Q: Anti-nuclear sentiment in Japan is pretty strong and it stems from the fact that Japan is the only country ever attacked in wartime with nuclear weapons. In a way that gives Japan a pretty loud voice in the international reaction to India's nuclear tests. I was wondering if you could just describe for people outside Japan the horror that the people here felt waking up and finding out that India had exploded three nuclear devices.

   A: You are quite right in saying that there is a very strong desire based on our own experiences on the part of the Japanese people to achieve a world which would be free of nuclear weapons and that is why we have been very actively pursuing the objective of ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons as well as the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). We ratified the CTBT in July 1997. The CTBT is a very important part of this whole nuclear disarmament agenda In bringing about the CTBT, we worked very actively in cooperation with like-mined countries and we have been urging countries like India which have not yet become signatories to the treaty to come on board. Against this background, it was certainly a shock to us that we learned that India conducted this nuclear testing for the first time since 1974, which is a very long time. There is understandably a great deal of concern on the part of our people and that is why we are urging the Government of India to stop its development of nuclear weapons immediately and we certainly hope that this will not trigger a chain reaction of proliferation of testing and development of missiles. I anticipate that we will be making these positions known to the countries concerned.

7. Participation of the Government of Japan in the Middle East peace process

   Q: Prime Minister Hashimoto is supposed to meet with President Clinton at the Summit. I want to know whether Prime Minister Hashimoto will raise the issue of the peace process in the Middle East during meetings with President Clinton.

   A: As I said earlier, we do have an active interest in the peace process being pursued and we do welcome the United States proposals put forward in London and we also highly value the United States efforts toward a breakthrough of the current stalemate in the peace process. This may be discussed in Birmingham or it may not. It really depends on the agenda that they have in London but let me say that the Middle East is one of the issues in which we have a shared interest with the United States. I might also add that we on our part would like to continue our efforts to encourage the peace process and roughly speaking, that can be done in four areas. One is for us to talk directly to the parties to the conflict whenever we have the chance -- direct dialogue with the parties concerned. The second is the assistance to the Palestinians and to the Arab countries concerned and in that sense I may mention that since 1993 we have extended about US $ 353 million worth of assistance to the Palestinians and we are one of the major donors, together with the United States and the EU. The third way in which we can help has been to participate actively in the multilateral negotiations and consultations process and this we characterize as an intellectual contribution to the Middle East peace process in the sense of sharing our expertise in certain areas. You may recall the examples of seminars on desalinization technology and tourism which took place in Tokyo earlier this year. In the context of our intellectual contribution or sharing our experiences in economic development, there is also our participation in the Middle East and North African Economic Conference (MENA). Fourthly, in terms of personnel contribution, Japan dispatched of our Self-Defense Forces personnel to the peace-keeping operations in the Golan Heights in the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF). Those are the areas in which we have been making efforts.

   Q: The press statement says that Japan strongly hopes that the Government of Israel will respond positively to the US proposals. Does that mean there is a chance of a contact between Japan and the Government of Israel to send such a message?

   A: We have our diplomatic channel. The fact that we are making this position publicly known would certainly be conveyed to the Government of Israel. It is being conveyed to the Israeli side. There is the question of the time difference I think.

   Q: There were some media reports about the Government of Japan showing an interest in participation in the development of the Arrow missile system with Israel and probably funded by the United States. Could you please comment on that?

   A: I am not aware of that particular story, so I am afraid I can not comment on that.

8. Position of the Government of Japan to film release

   Q: On 9 May the Chinese spokesperson made a protest over the movie of war-time General Tojo. In response to the protest, what is the position of the Government of Japan?

   A: We are aware of the statement by the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of the People's Republic of China of 9 May. He did comment about this film called "Pride," which is just about to be released. Our position is that this film has been produced by a private company in Japan. As such, it in no way reflects the position of the Government of Japan. The position of the Government of Japan on the question of past history in relation with China and other countries is reflected fully in the statement made by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on 15 August 1995 in which he expressed on behalf of the Government and people of Japan the deep remorse and heartfelt apology to a number of people, especially in Asia, who underwent tremendous pain and suffering during the war and we humbly accept that such was the fact and on the basis of this deep remorse and heartfelt apology, we are determined to exert our efforts toward world peace and prosperity. That is the position of the Government of Japan and I repeat, whatever message might be contained in this film which is produced by a private company in no way reflects the position of the Government of Japan.

   Q: Yesterday there was a preview of that film. Some Japanese members of parliament attended that preview. Does the fact that they were there show support for the film?

   A: It in no way means that the Government of Japan supports that position. I think it is very clear.