Press Conference 14 February 2003
- World Trade Organization Informal Ministerial Meeting to be held in Tokyo
- Commission on Human Security to adopt its Final Report
- Travel advisory for Japanese nationals in Baghdad, Republic of Iraq
- Question regarding Japan's stance on the situation in the Republic of Iraq
- Questions concerning the World Trade Organization Informal Ministerial Meeting
- Question concerning the Japanese Government's position on a Japanese national defecting from North Korea
- Question concerning possible visits by Japanese Government officials to Taiwan
- Questions concerning the travel advisory for Japanese nationals in Baghdad
- Question concerning oil supply and the situation in Iraq
- Question concerning warnings against terrorism
- Question concerning the meeting between Senior Vice Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Minister of Planning Bassem I. Awadallah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
- Question concerning statement by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of the United States
- World Trade Organization Informal Ministerial Meeting to be held in Tokyo
Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon, thank you very much for coming to this briefing. I have three announcements I would like to make.
Firstly, the World Trade Organization (WTO) informal ministerial meeting will begin their three-day session this evening in Tokyo. This meeting will be attended by 32 ministers from 21 countries and two international organizations and will be chaired by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi. Foreign Minister Kawaguchi expects that this informal meeting will make progress in regard to such important issues as market access of agricultural products and the provision of benefits to the developing countries.
For your information, for those of you who plan to cover this meeting, the press coverage outline is available at the International Press Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Related Information (WTO)
- Commission on Human Security to adopt its Final Report
Mr. Takashima: The second announcement is about the Commission on Human Security. The Commission on Human Security will hold its fifth and last meeting on 23-24 February in Tokyo. The Commission is expected to adopt its Final Report at this session and present this report to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan and Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the United Nations later.
The Government of Japan expects that this report will provide important guidelines for the formulation of future foreign policy, including the Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy of Japan. The members of the Commission, including Co-Chairs Mrs. Sadako Ogata, Former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Professor Amartya Sen of Cambridge University will hold a symposium on their findings on 25 February in Tokyo. This symposium will be open to the public.
Related Information (International Symposium on Human Security Hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs "Human Security - Its role in an era of various threats to the international community")
- Travel advisory for Japanese nationals in Baghdad, Republic of Iraq
Mr. Takashima: The third announcement I would like to make is that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today issued a new travel advisory for the Japanese people in Baghdad in the Republic of Iraq or those who are planning to visit this city. The new advisory recommends them to evacuate the city as soon as possible and for those who are planning to pay a visit there to defer the travel.
Related Information (Japan-Iraq Relations)
- Question regarding Japan's stance on the situation in the Republic of Iraq
Q: On this Iraq issue, the United States of America is very aggressive about starting a war, but the leaders of European countries are still hesitating or are against these actions. What is Japan's stance?
Mr. Takashima: We understand that the United Nations Security Council will hear the additional report from Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Dr. Hans Blix, Executive Chairman of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), today or very early morning tomorrow Japan time. We also understand that the United States has not decided whether or not they will start a war against Iraq.
The Japanese position is that we would like to see this issue resolved peacefully and diplomatically and that efforts should be made in order to have international solidarity to tackle this issue. In relation to this basic policy, we have been in touch with various countries, including the United States, to inform them that a new additional United Nations Security Council Resolution is desirable. We are watching the development at the United Nations Security Council, and at the same time, we are strongly urging the Iraqi government to comply with all the relevant UN Resolutions and disarm in a verifiable manner immediately.
Related Information (Japan's Diplomatic Efforts on the Issue of Iraq)
- Questions concerning the World Trade Organization Informal Ministerial Meeting
Q: Can you comment on the Japanese Government's latest position on this upcoming WTO informal ministerial meeting? I am asking because some Japanese government officials are expressing their opinions that seem different from what might have been the previous Japanese position, that is to support the European proposal for tariff reductions of 35%.
Mr. Takashima: Do you mean for agricultural products?
Q: Yes.
Mr. Takashima: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi, who will be the chairperson of this informal ministerial meeting, expects strongly that this meeting will make progress on issues such as market access of agricultural products and also the provision of benefits to developing countries. Insofar as the position on agricultural products is concerned, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tadamori Oshima has expressed his view to support the European Union's proposal, and we have not changed this position.
Q: About the other aspects of this meeting. What is Japan's proposal regarding non-agricultural sectors, service, TRIPS and other issues?
Mr. Takashima: For those issues such as TRIPS and so forth, the WTO has already set the target date of making the proposals finalized with the hope that these settled positions will be brought to the Cancun meeting scheduled for September 2003.
Our position is to make our own efforts and try our best to cooperate in making progress on these issues. But on an item-by-item basis, it is very difficult for me to describe at this moment because some issues are still under negotiation. We have not come up specific positions on them and are still under discussion, and we are not in a position to reveal them.
Q: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi expects this meeting to make progress? Can you elaborate on why she thinks so?
Mr. Takashima: We believe that the new round of the WTO process is very important for the sake of promotion of world trade and also to cope with the globalization of the world economy. Without making progress at this time and toward the Cancun meeting in September, it will be very difficult for the world to achieve the goal of finalizing this round by January 2005. For that reason, we, as one of the biggest trading countries in the world, are very much interested in making progress on this very complicated and comprehensive process.
Related Information (WTO)
- Question concerning the Japanese Government's position on a Japanese national defecting from North Korea
Q: What is the Japanese Government's position on the Japanese national defecting from North Korea? Would the Japanese Government would pay a certain amount of money in return for the safe return of the Japanese defector from North Korea?
Mr. Takashima: We do not anticipate any sort of payment of money in such cases. However, we would not discuss these cases simply because it strongly connects to the safety and privacy of those who are involved.
Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
- Question concerning possible visits by Japanese Government officials to Taiwan
Q: What is the situation on the possible visits by Japanese Government officials to Taiwan?
Mr. Takashima: About the visit of Japanese Government officials, I understand that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided not too long ago to give permission to visit Taiwan to officials of the Division Director level without having prior issuance of permission.
- Questions concerning the travel advisory for Japanese nationals in Baghdad
Q: I understand that level four, from a scale of one to four, was the level of the travel advisory that was issued.
Second, I heard the Japanese Government issued the travel advisory after receiving a hint or notice that the United States is ready to take military action.
Third, I heard that the Japanese Government arranged a charter flight for Japanese citizens. Can you confirm these rumors?
Mr. Takashima: Number one, we do not classify travel advisory warnings by numbers. But this recommendation to evacuate the city as soon as possible is, I would say, one of the very strong advisories.
Number two, we issued this travel advisory simply because there have been so many reports and speculations on the change of the environment and circumstances in and around Iraq. We thought that precaution would be the best way to protect Japanese nationals living there or those who are planning to visit there. We do not know whether there will be any military action anticipated in the near future.
Thirdly, we do not have any chartered planes for those who are leaving Baghdad. We made the recommendation because we thought that the means of travel between Baghdad and outside of the country of Iraq is very limited. They would mostly use land transportation. That is one of the reasons why we issued the travel advisory at this time.
Q: I understand that this is the strongest travel advisory. Is there any plan to have chartered planes arranged?
Mr. Takashima: Not at this time. This is simply an advisory to the people living there and we are recommending them to find means of transportation and get out of the city of Baghdad as soon as possible.
For your information, for areas in Iraq other than the city of Baghdad, we have already issued a travel advisory for Japanese nationals living there to evacuate those areas.
Related Information (Japan-Iraq Relations)
- Question concerning oil supply and the situation in Iraq
Q: Regarding the Iraqi situation, is the Japanese Government preparing some kind of contingency arrangement for securing an oil supply? I think I read somewhere that the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) is standing by for a stockpile of oil in times of contingency. Including such an arrangement, what is the Japanese government's preparedness regarding the securing of oil?
Mr. Takashima: Insofar as oil is concerned, as you have said, METI is in charge, but I understand that Japan, on an official basis and private basis, has a stockpile of approximately 170 days' worth of oil. This, we hope, will be quite sufficient to maintain our economic and industrial activities and people's daily life if and when something happens in the Middle East.
Related Information (Atomic Energy)
- Question concerning warnings against terrorism
Q: Regarding the advisories, there were some warnings by the US Government for its citizens to take care of themselves against possible terrorism. Does Japan also advise its citizens, for example, to evacuate certain areas in the US to raise the warnings for citizens visiting there?
Mr. Takashima: We took note that the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have taken precautionary measures against any kind of possible terrorist attacks in various places, including airports and so forth. We have issued advice from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notifying the general public that these kinds of measures have been taken by the US and UK Governments. But we have not issued travel advisories as a type of warning.
Q: Why is that?
Mr. Takashima: People's awareness would be sufficient to take any precautions by themselves.
Related Information (Japan-Iraq Relations)
- Question concerning the meeting between Senior Vice-Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Minister of Planning Bassem I. Awadallah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Q: I think there was a meeting between Senior Vice-Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Minister of Planning Bassem I. Awadallah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Mr. Takashima: Yesterday, Senior Vice-Minister Motegi met with Minister of Planning Awadallah in Tokyo and they talked about the situation in Iraq. Minister Abdullah specifically mentioned the economic difficulty of Jordan if a war erupts in the region. Senior Vice-Minister Motegi said that the Government of Japan is fully aware of the possibility of economic difficulty. He said that the Japanese Government has been making additional efforts to realize the peaceful solution of this situation.
Q: Was there any talk about certain numbers in terms of economic assistance?
Mr. Takashima: There were no figures mentioned. There were discussions in general terms.
Related Information (Japan-Jordan Relations)
- Question concerning statement by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of the United States
Q: I wonder if you have any comment on a statement by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld who did not rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons in the possible war against Iraq. As a matter of principle, does Japan support using arms of mass destruction to fight those who allegedly own arms of mass destruction? Do you support using such arms to get rid of these arms in certain countries?
Mr. Takashima: Firstly, I saw the press report indicating that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said such things, but I have no comment because I do not have any details on the statement made by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld.
In general terms, whether or not Japan supports the use of weapons of mass destruction, we are advocating nuclear disarmament and the prohibition of biological or chemical weapons, so this is the basic stance of Japanese policy.
Q: I understand that this suggests that you are against using such arms, in principle.
Mr. Takashima: In principle, we are not in favor of using these weapons.
Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
Related Information (Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation)
Related Information (Japan's Diplomatic Efforts on the Issue of Iraq)
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