Press Conference by the Press Secretary 7 September, 1999

1. Announcement on the agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestinians regarding the implementation of the Wye Memorandum
2. Announcement on the occurrence of terrorist incidents in Israel
3. Position of the Government of Japan in regard to the current situation in East Timor
4. Japan's position in regard to the possibility of withdrawing International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing from the Republic of Indonesia
5. Agenda of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on Assistance to the Palestinians to take place in Tokyo
6. Focus of Japan's agenda in the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in New Zealand
7. Expectations of Japan in regard to North Korea in light of the talks taking place between the United States and North Korea
8. Effect on Silk Road diplomacy of the kidnapping of four Japanese experts in the Republic of Kyrgyz
9. Initiatives of Japan in the multilateral track in regard to the Middle Eastern peace process
10. Schedule of Japan's bilateral talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings
11. Presence of the Japanese flag at press conferences for the foreign media in Japan
12. Consultation and cooperation between Japan and the United Kingdom in the area of military affairs
13. Possibility of dispatch of Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF) to East Timor
14. Possibility of future financial assistance to Indonesia

1. Announcement on the agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestinians regarding the implementation of the Wye Memorandum

   Press Secretary Sadaaki Numata: Good afternoon. We are resuming this press conference after the summer break, not that the summer break was entirely event free. There may be quite a number of subjects in which you are interested. I will keep my initial statement brief.

   I have two comments on the Middle East. Firstly, on the agreement between the State of Israel and the Palestinians regarding the implementation of the Wye Memorandum and the resumption of the final status negotiations. I believe the agreement is known as the Sharm-el-Sheikh Memorandum. Japan welcomes that Israel and the Palestinians came to an agreement regarding the implementation of the Wye Memorandum and the resumption of the final status negotiations. The agreement was achieved through persistent efforts that Israel and the Palestinians have made in the negotiations since the inauguration of the Barak administration in Israel in July. Japan highly regards both parties' serious engagement in driving the peace process forward. Japan strongly hopes that the agreement will be implemented in accordance with the expected time framework and that just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East will be realized in the nearest future through the final status negotiations. Japan will continue to actively support the peace process through such means as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee Meeting to be held in Tokyo - that is on aid to the Palestinians- political dialogues with the relevant parties, and initiatives in the multilateral track. I may note that as announced previously, the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on Palestinian Assistance will be taking place in Tokyo on the 14-15 October.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
2. Announcement on the occurrence of terrorist incidents in Israel

   Mr. Numata: I have one more related announcement, which is on the terrorist incidents in Israel. Having welcomed this agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, we heard this news about the two terrorist incidents in Israel. The Government of Japan deeply regrets that two terrorist bombings in Tiberias and Haifa on Sunday inflicted injuries on innocent civilians and reiterates its fundamental position that it firmly condemns such abhorrent terrorist acts. It is most regretful that this incident took place and especially so soon after an agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestinians upon the implementation of the Wye Memorandum. Japan strongly hopes that both Israel and the Palestinians will engage themselves in the implementation of the Sharm-el-Sheikh Memorandum without succumbing to such terrorist pressures in order to realize just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East in the nearest future.

   Related Information (Japan-Israel Relations)
   
3. Position of the Government of Japan in regard to the current situation in East Timor

   Q: With regard to East Timor, what is the Japanese Government's position on the situation there at the moment? I know that Prime Minister Obuchi has called for an easing of tensions for the military to continue to do their utmost to bring about peace and stability. But does the Japanese Government blame in any way the Indonesian military for allowing circumstance to develop the way they have over the past couple of days?

   Mr. Numata: I think there are a couple of key points regarding the situation in East Timor and regarding the Government of Japan's position with respect to East Timor. First, we strongly desire that this result of the ballot will be accepted by all the parties concerned, and secondly that the responsibility for maintaining security and order rests with the Government of the Republic of Indonesia. In light of this, we did welcome the result of the direct ballot as announced on 4 September, and we welcomed that the direct ballot had taken place in a free and fair manner. We strongly urged that all the parties accept this outcome, but in actual fact, despite these voices of the international community there continue to be cases of attacks, gunfire, arsons and so forth. The situation is very tense there and we do regret that and we are very much concerned about it.

   in light of these circumstances, we do feel that the Government of Indonesia, including the local security authorities should exert their utmost effort for restoring safety and order and also to ensure the safety of the United Nations and other personnel. It is with this in mind that we have been talking to the Government of Indonesia. We have also been involved in joint demarches to the Government of Indonesia with this in mind. We do note that the matter is under serious consideration in the context of the United Nations. The Security Council is dispatching a mission to Indonesia. I believe that they will be arriving in Indonesia tomorrow morning, and will be following with keen interest the outcome or the progress of the discussions to take place between this Security Council mission and the Indonesian authorities. That is where we stand. The question of what the international community may be able to do is still a bit fluid. I think we may have to watch the developments a bit more to see what the total picture is, but in the meantime, it is vital that safety and security be restored in East Timor. To that end, we do feel that it is vitally important that the Government of Indonesia fulfill this responsibility, and we continue to appeal to the Government of Indonesia to do that.

   Q: What is the view of the Japanese Government on how effective the Indonesian authorities have been in maintaining order over the past week or so?

   Mr. Numata: I think my response to that was contained in the statement which I made, that we find the situation on the ground to be very regretful, and we are very much concerned about the situation, and that is why we continue to call strongly on the Government of Indonesia to fulfill its responsibility in maintaining and ensuring security and safety.

   Q: But you are stopping short of outrightly criticizing the Indonesian security?

   Mr. Numata: Outright criticisms are normally in the vocabulary of those people who report these statements.

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4. Japan's position in regard to the possibility of withdrawing International Monetary Fund (IMF) financing from the Republic of Indonesia

   Q: A follow-up question. The Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Howard, has floated the possibility that perhaps withdrawing or making some sort of statement on IMF funding would put pressure on the Indonesian Government to do something about security in East Timor. What is Japan's position on this?

   Mr. Numata: I do not think that we are contemplating these possibilities now, because we have a very complex situation where the situation on the ground is very tense indeed. The developments in East Timor may affect a larger picture, which is the challenge that Indonesia itself is facing in this very important transitional period. At the same time, it is very important for Indonesia to achieve this transition toward a new system of government, and that is also an important consideration. All of these factors need to be seen in balance. I am not quite sure what Prime Minister John Howard of the Commonwealth of Australia said. You used the word "floated," so I do not know whether it is a formal proposal or not.

   Q: His quote was that all options are on the table, when asked whether there might be some threat.

   Mr. Numata: Well, I do not know whether I would draw from that the conclusion that such a possibility is indeed being contemplated. But apart from that, we would like to see peace and safety restored in East Timor. At the same time, we would like to see Indonesia achieve this very important transition smoothly as well. We will have to take all of these factors into account in deliberating our policy.

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5. Agenda of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee on Assistance to the Palestinians to take place in Tokyo

   Q: Could you make a brief comment about the agenda of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee to take place in Tokyo? Will it be a pledging conference?

   Mr. Numata: I do not think this is a pledging conference as such, but as you recall, there was the Washington Conference on Assistance to Middle Eastern Peace, which took place 1 October 1993, and it is within that framework that this Ad Hoc Liaison Committee was established for the coordination and promotion of assistance to the Palestinians among the donor countries. The purposes for the Committee are, as I said, to coordinate and promote the efforts by the donor countries in the context of assistance to the Palestinians and to ensure transparency of the activities by the donors, the Secretariat and the recipients of the aid, and also to promote trade and investment and a few others.

   This Ad Hoc Liaison Committee has taken place five times before, but this is the first time that it is going to take place in Japan. In fact, more recently there was the pledging conference in the form of the Washington Meeting on Palestinian Assistance in November last year, and the countries concerned made their pledges. What we plan to do in this Liaison Committee is to make sure that these pledges are carried out and to assess the assistance to the Palestinians by the donor countries over the past five years. We will also be talking about how we can go about achieving a more efficient coordination of the aid by the respective donors and so forth. As for the participants, it will be co-chaired by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway. It will be attended by the United States of America, the European Union, the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Canada, the Russian Federation, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Tunisia, the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

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6. Focus of Japan's agenda in the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in New Zealand

   Q: What does Japan hope to accomplish at APEC? Do you expect any breakthroughs on China's entry into the WTO? What are some of the important bilateral and trilaterals that Japan will be involved in and what do you foresee happening?

   Mr. Numata: To take your second question first, as you know when Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi visited the People's Republic of China in July, we successfully concluded our own bilateral access negotiations with China in the context of China's bid to accede to the World Trade Organization (WTO). That agreement was with respect to trade-in-services. We did hope that the successful conclusion of our access negotiations with China would prove to be a useful impetus for other countries to conclude their access negotiations so that the way can be paved for China's accession to the WTO before the start of the next round of WTO negotiations. Since then I believe Australia has successfully concluded the negotiations, and we are hearing that around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, the access negotiations, which have been suspended for some time between the United States and China, may be resumed. We do hope that all these will inject some vigor into this ongoing process. In that sense, we welcome the news that the US-China bilateral negotiations are about to be resumed, and we do feel that the progress in the US-China negotiations would greatly contribute to the aim of China acceding to the WTO in the course of this year. We sincerely hope that the US-China negotiations will be concluded as quickly as possible. Whether or not there is to be a breakthrough depends on the actual parties who will be negotiating. As far as our own position, and our own hopes are concerned, they are as I have just outlined.

   With respect to what may be discussed in the context of APEC, there are a number of things which will be taken up. The host country, New Zealand, has been suggesting several items on the agenda. Among these, we attach importance, for example, to the concept of strengthening the functions of the market. In that context, we do feel that an important element in making sure that economic activities and business activities of the countries concerned function effectively is to build the capacities on the part of the respective countries to engage in these economic activities. Perhaps Japan may have an important role to play in that regard in sharing our own experiences with the member countries of APEC.

   One other point is that in the wake of the Asian economic and financial turmoil - although I would say that the situation on that score seems to be better this year than was the case last year - we need to look back on that experience and see what lessons we can draw in terms of managing our own respective macro economies. We co-hosted a seminar on the subject this summer, and we are preparing a report on the basis of that seminar. We co-hosted a symposium with Thailand, and we will be presenting a report from that for consideration by the leaders.

   Thirdly, you did raise the question of the WTO. We feel that it is very important for this APEC meeting to send a positive message toward the successful launching of the next round of WTO negotiations. This is not an exhaustive list, but those are some examples of the sort of areas to which we attach importance.

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7. Expectations of Japan in regard to North Korea in light of the talks taking place between the United States and North Korea

   Q: Today there will talks between the United States and North Korea in Berlin concerning the missiles of North Korea. What is Japan expecting from the results of this meeting?

   Mr. Numata: This whole question of the missile with respect to North Korea has been a source of very serious concern not only to the Government of Japan but also to the Government of the Republic of Korea and to the Government of the United States. It happens that out of these three governments, the government which is in a position to engage in direct dialogue with North Korea specifically on the question of the missiles is the Government of the United States. We do attach a great deal of importance to these consultations. We have been keeping in very close touch with the Republic of Korea and the United States precisely on this subject. You may recall that on the occasion of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), our three governments got together and issued a joint statement calling for North Korea's restraint on this subject. It is in that context we do hope that North Korea will show positive, constructive responses to the issues that are of concern to us, and we do hope that such positive, constructive responses on the part of North Korea will lead to the improvement of the relations with North Korea on the one hand, and Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea on the other.

   As to whether or not there have been positive signs in North Korea's attitude, it is not an easy question to answer. The important thing is that these consultations between the United States and North Korea are indeed taking place, and we hope that there will be a positive outcome.

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8. Effect on Silk Road diplomacy of the kidnapping of four Japanese experts in the Republic of Kyrgyz

   Q: Has Japan's Silk Road diplomacy in Central Asia been affected by the kidnapping of four Japanese experts? I heard that experts were researching the gold mines there. Do you think that they had some important information on the gold mines and that was the reason they were kidnapped?

   Mr. Numata: We do continue to attach importance to what is known as Silk Road diplomacy given the importance of these countries in the global scheme of things. I do not think there is any change in the importance that we attach to that region, but at the same time it is true that the situation in that region has some elements of complexity. Perhaps some of these elements of complexity are mainly reflected in this particular incident, although I hasten to add that we are in the process of working very hard for the release of these hostages. We are involved in very delicate discussions with the relevant governments and we are trying very hard to establish contact with the hostage takers. Given that such is the case, I do not think I can go about enumerating what we see as the complexities because by commenting on these elements we might unwittingly send the wrong signals to those people who have taken the hostages. So I shall refrain from commenting further on that.

   You mentioned the question of what these experts were doing. They were engaged in mining surveys at the request of the Government of the Republic of Kyrgyz. The Government of Kyrgyz is interested in developing its natural resources, which will provide a means of earning foreign exchanges. For that reason, they asked us to conduct what we call a Resource Development Survey with respect to gold and copper in that area. The name of the area is Allyn Jylga. They were, as you know, conducting their survey under rather severe circumstances very high up on the mountains. That is all I can say in terms of what the facts are.

   Related Information (Japan-Kyrgyz Republic Relations)
   
9. Initiatives of Japan in the multilateral track in regard to the Middle Eastern peace process

   Q: You mentioned earlier in your statement that Japan welcomes the implementation agreement and that Japan will continue its initiatives in the multilateral track. Do you mean you have in mind new initiatives?

   Mr. Numata: I think that we have in mind basically the sort of initiatives that we have taken before. Multilateral tracks and multilateral consultations or negotiations have been going on for quite some time. As I understand it, the multilateral negotiations have not really been beaming with energy for the past few years because of the lack of progress on the bilateral tracks. We have felt for quite some time that one of the ways in which Japan can usefully contribute to the Middle Eastern peace process is through our contribution to the multilateral process, where we join the countries of the region in considering the problems of development, environment, water resources and so forth. It is for that reason that we have taken certain initiatives in chairing the Working Group on Environment, and those activities can provide an important underpinning to peace once peace is achieved. We continue to have an interest in this, and that is the sort of thing we mean by saying initiatives in the multilateral tracks.

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10. Schedule of Japan's bilateral talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings

    Q: Are any of the bilateral meetings at APEC already settled that you can tell us about that involve Japan?

    Mr. Numata: I have not got the whole list. I am sure Prime Minister Obuchi will be meeting some of the important leaders. I do not think that we have got all the timetables lined up. We are in the process of getting in touch with the countries concerned to arrange these meetings. I certainly expect a plurality of meetings. At the same time, there are many leaders taking part in the meeting, and arranging these meetings can become a somewhat complex exercise. For example, Prime Minister Obuchi does look forward to meeting Vladimir Putin, the new Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. In the context of the question asked about North Korea and North Korean missiles, we are in the process of coordinating with the Governments of the Republic of Korea and the United States to arrange a tripartite leaders meeting. Those are just a few examples.

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11. Presence of the Japanese flag at press conferences for the foreign media in Japan

    Q: On a completely different subject, is this the first time that this regular conference has had the Hinomaru displayed?

    Mr. Numata: Yes, at this conference in English to the foreign press corps. We have had the press conferences to the Japanese press with the presence of the national flag for quite some time, since immediately after the enactment of the legislation.

    Q: So that will be a regular fixture?

    Mr. Numata: I thought you were going to ask me whether I draw encouragement from that. As a Japanese, I find it quite natural.

12. Consultation and cooperation between Japan and the United Kingdom in the area of military affairs

    Q: I have read in the Action Plan issued by Mr. Koumura and Mr. Cook of Britain that there will be more consultation and cooperation in the military field. Am I to understand that it is similar to the cooperation between Japan and the United States?

    Mr. Numata: I do not have the text in front of me. I should know it by heart but I do not. I was very heavily involved in drafting the first Action Agenda in 1996. Both the Japan and the United Kingdom see eye to eye on a number of issues on the global scene, including the strategic situations in Kosovo and the Islamic Republic of Iran from some time ago, and also with respect to the Asia-Pacific region. We do feel that there is a lot to be gained by our engaging in what we might call a strategic, political, military dialogue, which can involve not just people in this building, but for example, people in the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA) and on the British side, not just in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office but also in the Ministry of Defense. That is the general context that we are talking about.

    You asked if what is contemplated is like the dialogue or cooperation between Japan and the United States. I think there is a difference in the sense that the United States is the only ally of Japan, and that could give rise to certain differences, but that does not change the fact that Japan and the United Kingdom have quite a lot of shared interests in continuing this kind of dialogue.

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13. Possibility of dispatch of Japanese Self Defense Forces (SDF) to East Timor

    Q: Back to East Timor, Director General Hosei Norota of the Defense Agency said this morning that Japan might consider sending SDF troops as part of a UN peacekeeping force. Do you have any comments on this?

    Mr. Numata: As I said earlier, I think it is a bit premature to envisage the kind of United Nations involvement which may be called for. The East Timor situation has been evolving in different stages. The first phase leading to the direct ballot has taken place, and the people of East Timor have expressed their preference for independence. There is now to be the phase two until this choice by the people of East Timor is ratified by the Indonesian Parliament. Then it will be phase three, which will be the actual transition to independence. So far the United Nations has been based on the Security Council resolution with the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and civilian policeman and military. Given the situation on the ground in East Timor, the Security Council has just dispatched its mission to be arriving on the ground in Jakarta tomorrow. They will be discussing the sort of United Nations involvement which may be called for. I do not think we can predict at this point exactly what shape or form it might take. For our own part, we would like to continue to contribute to this process in East Timor, but exactly how it can be done will have to be seen in the context of the situation which will be evolving.

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14. Possibility of future financial assistance to Indonesia

    Q: Has Japanese financial assistance to Indonesia been considered as an option yet?

    Mr. Numata: I said earlier that in looking at the question of East Timor, there is this aspect of East Timor affecting Indonesia as a whole, but at the same time Indonesia itself is in the process of a very important transition. It will need to achieve that transition and for that, help from the international community is necessary. These things will have to been seen in perspective, so I do not think there is any sort of position that our Government has decided on in respect to aid to Indonesia in this context.

    There are a lot of things on the plate, but perhaps I have satisfied your curiosity for the moment.

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