Press Conference 6 December 2002
- Visit to Japan by Foreign Minister Igor Sergeevich Ivanov of the Russian Federation
- Situation in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
- Cancellation of the visit to Japan by President Lansana Conté of the Republic of Guinea
- Signing of Three Protocols Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
- Question concerning Internet news delivery service
- Question concerning visits by the presidents of the Dominican Republic and the Republic of the Philippines
- Questions concerning dispatch of Self-Defense Forces
- Visit to Japan by Foreign Minister Igor Sergeevich Ivanov of the Russian Federation
Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon, thank you very much for coming to this briefing. I have four announcements I would like to make.
The first announcement is that Mr. Igor Sergeevich Ivanov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, will be visiting Japan from 17 to 19 December.
During his visit to Japan, Minister Ivanov will have a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi. The agenda of this meeting will be bilateral relations between Japan and Russia, including preparations for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Russia scheduled for next month, as well as international issues, including the situations in North Korea and in Iraq.
Related Information (Visit to Japan by Mr. Igor Sergeevich Ivanov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation)
- Situation in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka
Mr. Takashima: The second announcement is about the situation in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The Government of Japan will host an international conference in May or June next year in Tokyo to assist peace-building and reconstruction in Sri Lanka. It was agreed on at the meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka yesterday. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is in Japan on a visit.
Japan will also host the sixth round of peace talks next March in Japan between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), known as Tamil Tigers. These events are a part of the effort of the Government of Japan to contribute to peace and stability through assistance for the consolidation of peace in countries and areas where a peace process is underway to end armed conflict.
The Preparatory Conference on Peace and Reconstruction in Aceh, which was held in Tokyo last Tuesday, was also a part of this effort by Japan for the consolidation of peace. The Government of Japan will pursue this policy vigorously.
Related Information (Japan-Sri Lanka Relations)
- Cancellation of the visit to Japan by President Lansana Conté of the Republic of Guinea
Mr. Takashima: The third announcement is about the cancellation of the visit to Japan by President Lansana Conté of the Republic of Guinea.
The visit by President Conté, scheduled from 8 to 11 December, has been cancelled at the request of the Government of Guinea.
Related Information (Japan-Guinea Relations)
- Signing of three protocols supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime
Mr. Takashima: The last announcement is on the signing of three protocols supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.
The Government of Japan, at its Cabinet Meeting, today decided to sign the following three protocols which supplement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. The three protocols are as follows:
- the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children
- the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air
- the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components, and Ammunition
Mr. Koichi Haraguchi, Japanese Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, will sign the three protocols on 9 December at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
These three protocols establish an international cooperative framework to fight transnational organized crime, which has been rapidly becoming complex and more serious in recent years; in particular, trafficking in persons, smuggling of migrants, and illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms.
By signing these three protocols, Japan intends to show its stance against transnational organized crime to the international community and to promote its leadership in coping with such crime.
Related Information (Signing of Three Protocols Supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime)
- Question concerning Internet news delivery service
Q: Recently, there has been a lot of news issued on the Internet. Mainly, news delivery is changing to Internet delivery service. Some news is delivered to us with photographs, but for others, in fact for most of the news releases, there is just text, no photos. Is there a reason why only some news releases have photos attached?
Mr. Takashima: There is no particular reason, simply the availability of photographs.
Q: It is our desire, but with the main news delivery process changing to an Internet news delivery service in the near future, could you please attach more photos if available, since it is quite easy for us to use that?
Mr. Takashima: I will look into that.
- Question concerning visits by the presidents of the Dominican Republic and the Republic of the Philippines
Q: In the past few days, two presidents from overseas, for example, from the Republic of the Philippines and the Dominican Republic, visited Japan. Have there been any news releases issued concerning the results of their talks with Prime Minister Koizumi?
Mr. Takashima: Let me check on that.
Related Information (Visit to Japan of His Excellency Mr. Rafael Hipolito Mejia Dominguez, President of the Dominican Republic) (Visit to Japan of His Excellency Mr. Rafael Hipolito Mejia Dominguez, President of the Dominican Republic)
Related Information (Visit to Japan of Her Excellency Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, President of the Republic of the Philippines, and Mr. Jose Miguel Tuason Arroyo)
- Question concerning dispatch of Self-Defense Forces
Q: I wanted to reconfirm about the statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda that there might be members of the Self-Defense Force of Japan deployed to the Republic of Iraq after the war is finished and the regime of President Saddam Hussein has been overthrown.
Mr. Takashima: There was no such announcement.
Q: According to Kyodo News, early this morning, there was a dispatch.
Mr. Takashima: I am aware that there was a press report in Japan regarding the preparations of the Government of Japan for the situation in Iraq. The basic position of Japan is that we are considering every possibility in the situation in Iraq, including the evacuation of Japanese nationals living in that area and assistance for refugees. However, those are the elements of the usual considerations taken by the Government. We have not come to any conclusion or policy decision, because no formal decision has been made so far by either the United Nations or the Government of the United States of America to take any military action vis-à-vis the situation in Iraq.
As to your question on the possible deployment of Japanese Self-Defense Forces to the area, there has been no such specific consideration at the moment by the Government of Japan.
Q: So the Kyodo report is totally groundless?
Mr. Takashima: There is no such policy-making process at the moment. No decision has been made on that.
Q: Could you confirm the sending of Aegis destroyers?
Mr. Takashima: Yes, the Government of Japan decided yesterday that we would dispatch an escort ship, known as Aegis, to the Indian Ocean, where the Maritime Self-Defense Force vessels are now conducting supply activities for American and other naval vessels operating there as part of the fight against terrorism.
Q: Does that include any possible operations against Iraq?
Mr. Takashima: It does not have anything to do with the operation regarding the situation in Iraq, because this dispatch falls under the Anti-Terrorism Special Measures Law, specifically established for the fight against terrorism in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks last year.
Q: So the United States cannot expect to get any help from these ships in case it decided to conduct other operations?
Mr. Takashima: The Aegis escort ship is expected to exchange information with American and other naval vessels, which are friendly forces fighting against terrorism. If any other operation is undertaken by American or other naval vessels, the Japanese Aegis escort ship would not participate in it at all.
Q: Do you have any contact with the Government of Iraq regarding the current situation?
Mr. Takashima: Do you mean the situation in general?
Q: Yes, the inspections and other related issues. Has there been any contact with the Government of Iraq?
Mr. Takashima: We already contacted the Government of Iraq immediately after the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution, urging them to fully comply with the Resolution. That sort of diplomatic contact has been established both in Baghdad and in Tokyo.
Q: Is the Government of Japan satisfied with the results of the United Nations weapons inspectors?
Mr. Takashima: We hope that the Government of Iraq will fully comply with the terms and conditions set out by the UN Security Council Resolution and fully accept unconditional inspections. Hopefully, Iraq will continue to cooperate and accept that demand of the international community. However, we cannot say whether or not we are satisfied, because the inspections have just started, and we do not have the results yet.
Related Information (Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation)
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