Press Conference 26 October 2001

1. Discontinuation of measures in response to nuclear testing conducted by the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
2. Visit to Japan by Minister of Finance Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan
3. Visit by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to India
4. Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Ali Abu Al-Ragheb of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
5. Follow-up questions concerning the discontinuation of measures against India and Pakistan
6. Questions concerning former President Alberto Fujimori of the Republic of Peru

1. Discontinuation of measures in response to nuclear testing conducted by the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

   Deputy Press Secretary Joji Hisaeda: Good afternoon. I have four announcements to make today. The first announcement relates to the measures in response to nuclear testing by the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

   In response to the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakistan in May 1998, Japan took the following measures as announced by the Chief Cabinet Secretary on 13, 14 and 29 May 1998. (1) Grant aid to India was frozen, except for emergency and humanitarian aid and grant assistance for grassroots projects. (2) Yen loans to India and Pakistan for new projects were frozen. (3) The Government decided to carefully examine the loan programs to India and Pakistan by multinational development banks.

   Japan has repeatedly expressed its position to both India and Pakistan regarding nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation issues. Consequently, both India and Pakistan have been maintaining their moratoria on further nuclear tests for the past three years and declaring their intention to maintain them. Furthermore, both countries have stated that they will ensure strict controls of nuclear- and missile-related goods and technologies. To that extent, Japan's measures have obtained due achievement.

   Japan highly values the efforts of India and Pakistan to contribute to strengthening the international coalition against terrorism. It is vitally important that Pakistan remains stable and cooperative with international society in the fight against terrorism. In this context, Japan recognizes, from the medium- to long-term point of view, a genuine need to support Pakistan, particularly in view of Pakistan's difficult domestic situation. At the same time, it is imperative for Japan to strengthen its positive engagement with India, which is expected to play an important role in tackling terrorism and in enhancing stability in the Southwest Asia region.

   In view of the above points, Japan decided to discontinue the measures taken against India and Pakistan in May 1998. In due course, Japan will examine specific Official Development Assistance (ODA) plans with regard to both countries.

   Japan will continuously urge India and Pakistan to make progress in the field of nuclear non-proliferation, including signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Should the situation concerning nuclear non-proliferation deteriorate in either India or Pakistan, Japan will consider taking appropriate responses including restoration of the discontinued measures.

   Related Information (Japan-India Relations)
   Related Information (Japan-Pakistan Relations)
   
2. Visit to Japan by Minister of Finance Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan

   Mr. Hisaeda: My second announcement concerns the visit to Japan of Minister of Finance Shaukat Aziz of Pakistan.

   Finance Minister Aziz will visit Japan from 31 October to 3 November as a Special Envoy of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan. During his visit, Finance Minister Aziz, who will carry a letter from President Musharraf to Prime Minister Koizumi, will have a wide-ranging exchange of views with leading figures including Prime Minister Koizumi.

   This visit is taking place in the wake of a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Koizumi and President Musharraf on 17 October in which the Pakistani President expressed his wish to dispatch Finance Minister Aziz to Japan in order to explain the position of the Government of Pakistan regarding Japan's support and assistance to Pakistan.

   Related Information (Japan-Pakistan Relations)
   
3. Visit by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori to India

   Mr. Hisaeda: My next announcement is on former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori's upcoming visit to India.

   Former Prime Minister Mori will visit India from 28 to 31 October as a Special Envoy of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Seiken Sugiura and other officials will accompany former Prime Minister Mori.

   Former Prime Minister Mori will carry a letter from Prime Minister Koizumi to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of India, and will exchange views with Prime Minister Vajpayee and other key figures in India.

   India is expected to play an important role in tackling terrorism and enhancing stability in the region. It is with a view to strengthening dialogue with India that the Government of Japan has decided to dispatch former Prime Minister Mori as a Special Envoy of the Prime Minister.

   August last year, Mr. Mori, in his capacity as Prime Minister, visited four countries in South Asia including India, and agreed with Prime Minister Vajpayee to establish a "Global Partnership Between Japan and India in the Twenty-first Century".

   Related Information (Japan-India Relations)
   
4. Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Ali Abu Al-Ragheb of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

   Mr. Hisaeda: My last statement is on the visit to Japan by Prime Minister Ali Abu Al-Ragheb of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

   Prime Minister Abu Al-Ragheb will visit Japan from 29 October to 1 November. During his stay in Japan, Prime Minister Abu Al-Ragheb will have meetings with Prime Minister Koizumi and discuss bilateral relations and the international situation including our response to the terrorist attacks in the United States of America and the Middle East peace process. We expect that the friendly and cooperative relationship between Japan and Jordan will be further enhanced by Prime Minister Abu Al-Ragheb's visit.

   Related Information (Japan-Jordan Relations)
   
5. Follow-up questions concerning the discontinuation of measures against India and Pakistan

   Q: About the lifting of economic sanctions against Pakistan and India, and the scale and nature of Japanese ODA to both countries, should we expect that ODA assistance will be at levels similar to, or almost the same as, those before the 1998 measures were imposed?

   Mr. Hisaeda: I have no information on that. I do not want to speculate as to what extent we will extend assistance to these two countries after lifting our economic sanctions; but, we believe that we need to extend our assistance in an appropriate and balanced manner.

   Q: Just to clarify, could you please specify that this lifting of sanctions will not go against the Japanese Government's initial intention to make progress in the field of nuclear non-proliferation, especially, the signing of the CTBT? Will this aim not be jeopardized even after the lifting of economic sanctions?

   Mr. Hisaeda: We strongly hope that this will not jeopardize our position. As you can find in the statement, as a consequence of Japan's repeated expression of its position to both India and Pakistan, both have been maintaining their moratoria on further nuclear testing for the past three years and declaring their intention to maintain them. Furthermore, both countries have stated that they will ensure strict controls of nuclear missile-related goods and technologies. As is stated in this announcement, Japan's measures have obtained certain achievement to that extent. Moreover, as it states in the last part of the announcement, "Japan will continuously urge India and Pakistan to make progress in the field of nuclear non-proliferation...Should the situation concerning nuclear non-proliferation deteriorate in either India or Pakistan, Japan will consider taking an appropriate response including restoration of the discontinued measures".

   Related Information (Japan-India Relations)
   Related Information (Japan-Pakistan Relations)
   
6. Questions concerning former President Alberto Fujimori of the Republic of Peru

   Q: With regard to former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, there were talks between Prime Minister Koizumi and President Toledo at the APEC forum in Shanghai. Could you please explain the content of the discussion, because there was perhaps some sort of misunderstanding, especially in Peru, about the nature of Prime Minister Koizumi's remarks? Also, I would like to know if there have been any developments in the Japanese Government's measures in relation to Mr. Fujimori?

   Mr. Hisaeda: First, I will give you an outline of the discussion during the meeting between Prime Minister Koizumi and President Alejandro Toledo of the Republic of Peru, on 21 October in Shanghai. It was a very brief meeting of 15 minutes.

   At the outset, President Toledo said that the issues of former President Fujimori and Japan-Peru relations are different matters. President Toledo stated that he wished to enhance the good relationship that Peru enjoys with Japan, which includes trade, investment, technology, and personnel exchange. President Toledo went on to say that Peru needs to deal with the question of former President Fujimori and it needs to have the Peruvian judicial authority carry out its duty-the Peruvian judicial authority is requesting extradition of President Fujimori from Japan-and former President Fujimori needs to comply with the Peruvian authority's request for investigation.

   Prime Minister Koizumi responded that there was concern in Japan that feeling in Peru against former President Fujimori might be linked to negative sentiments toward the Japanese people and Japanese Peruvians in Peru, but he understood from President Toledo's statement that this was not the situation in Peru. Subsequently, Prime Minister Koizumi told President Toledo that he took the Peruvian President's words as a guarantee that there was no such situation. As for the question of former President Fujimori, Prime Minister Koizumi explained that Japan needs to deal with the matter in accordance with its own domestic laws and regulations and, furthermore, Japan was studying this matter and needs further time to study to it.

   In response, President Toledo said that neither Japan nor Peru should let this question harm the existing good relationship between the two countries, but Peru needs to have its judicial authority carry out its duty.

   As for your second question, Japan's position on this question remains the same: that is, the matter should be dealt with in accordance with the laws and regulations of Japan.

   Q: Concerning what measures will be taken, in this statement it says, "we need a little more time". But it has been quite a while since Mr. Fujimori decided to stay in Japan. Has there not been any development even after the conversation between the two leaders?

   Mr. Hisaeda: I do not have any development after the conversation. But I will just remind you of the background in terms of our laws and regulation. Japan's relevant laws and regulations do not allow us to extradite Japanese nationals unless otherwise stipulated in a treaty with a country that has made such a request. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Peru-that brings us back to our domestic law.

   Related Information (Japan-Peru Relations)