Press Conference 3 April 2003

1. Travel warning concerning severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
2. Follow-up questions concerning travel warning
3. Question concerning possible trip by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi to Europe
4. Question concerning possible missile launch by North Korea
5. Question concerning Japan's humanitarian assistance

1. Travel warning concerning severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)

   Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon and thank you very much for coming to this special briefing. Today I have one announcement to make.

   It is about the travel warning issued to the Japanese people in view of the fact that there is a sudden epidemic of a very acute case of pneumonia called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) especially in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China.

   The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today issued a travel warning for those Japanese planning to those two regions. They should avoid or postpone unnecessary, non-essential trips to those regions. This is the first travel warning to Japanese citizens vis-à-vis this situation.

   The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will put this notice on our website and also the newspaper ads to disseminate this information. At the same time, the Embassies and Consulate General offices of Japan in these areas will be instructed to spread this information by all available means to let the Japanese people living in their regions be fully aware of our notice, and also of the situation happening in those two areas.

   In addition to that, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been disseminating travel advisories in connection with the sudden epidemic of this unknown disease, not only in Hong Kong and China but also various places in the world from March 17 onward. Today's warning is actually the fifth notice issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The previous four notices were a travel advisory, not a warning. However, today, the level has been raised to a warning.

   Related Information (WHO | World Health Organization)
   
2. Follow-up questions concerning travel warning

   Q: I do not know if this is the Foreign Ministry's responsibility, but for people arriving in Japan from high-risk areas, there is no quarantine procedure at the moment in terms of compulsory quarantine or screening of people. Will that be strengthened as well?

   Mr. Takashima: The Government is taking measures to strengthen our quarantine activities at the airports where the flights from those regions arrive, mainly to give advice to the passengers onboard those planes so that they can notify the quarantine officers should they experience any symptoms of this syndrome. If symptoms appear after several days of their stay in Japan, they are advised to go to a doctor as soon as possible. That sort of advice has been given through the airline companies as well as the media.

   Q: Will there be any compulsory screening?

   Mr. Takashima: Not compulsory that I know of yet, but the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is making a thorough study of what sort of measures can be taken by the Japanese authorities to cope with a possible worsening of the situation.

   Q: Would you know how many Japanese travel to these regions?

   Mr. Takashima: I am afraid I do not have any figures to that effect. At the same time, as far as we know, there has been no Japanese patient who has been confirmed as infected with this syndrome so far.

   Q: Related to the issue, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was considering issuing this warning yesterday soon after recommendations by the World Health Organization (WHO)? What occurred during the lapse in time since yesterday?

   Mr. Takashima: As soon as we learned that the World Health Organization issued a travel warning, we started studying the situation yesterday afternoon. However, the Ministry itself does not have any means to verify or confirm the medical information included in that WHO notification. Therefore, we consulted with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as well as the WHO, and it took several hours for them to get back with the necessary information to us. As soon as we received that information, it was already late in the evening, we decided to firstly release another travel advisory from this office informing people of the warning by the WHO. Today, the Government of Japan itself had a special meeting at the Prime Minister's Office, after which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to issue a travel warning. The other Ministries are now taking necessary measures.

   Q: What was the necessary information that you were waiting for from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the WHO?

   Mr. Takashima: Actually, we had seen the press report by the WHO, but firstly we needed to see the official notification. Such official notifications come through the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Another thing was that we have to learn more about the dangers of this disease to find out if this disease is serious enough to upgrade our travel advisory to the level of warning.

   Q: Is there anything above a travel warning?

   Mr. Takashima: There are four levels of travel warning. The first one is to take care and caution, which is the softest one. The second is to defer unnecessary travel. Then, to defer travel. The fourth and the strongest is to evacuate the location. For example, Iraq and Kuwait and Israel and some parts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are designated as places you should evacuate.

   Q: Does the Government have the power to force the travel industry to do that?

   Mr. Takashima: This is only on an advisory. We have no means to enforce it but merely to give advice and try to persuade them.

   Q: You mentioned that you had to learn more about the danger of the disease as to whether it warranted raising the level of the warning. What information prompted that decision to step up the level?

   Mr. Takashima: The size of the epidemic, the possible worsening of the situation in the days to come and also the fact that there is no established medical cure to cope with this disease. Those issues were confirmed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

   Q: Is there any concern on the ramifications for the diplomatic relations or effect on businesses such as travel agencies having to cancel their tours?

   Mr. Takashima: When you consider issuing a travel warning, you always have to consider all the possible effects or ramifications, as you have said, caused by your decision. Of course, we took the necessary consideration before coming to this decision of issuance of a travel warning.

   Q: On diplomatic relations, I understand that Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi is going to China this weekend. Was that taken into consideration in the relations with China?

   Mr. Takashima: It was the smallest part.

   Q: So there was consideration although it was the smallest part?

   Mr. Takashima: That was one of the factors that you always have to consider but it does not hinder or alter one way or the other the final decision.

   Q: When you post these "defer unnecessary travel" warnings, can the travel agents ignore them if they want.

   Mr. Takashima: They can ignore them but my understanding is that the major travel agencies have already canceled their package tours to those areas.

   Q: If you take it up to the next level, can they also ignore the "defer travel completely" warning?

   Mr. Takashima: Hopefully, they would not ignore that but take it seriously because this is a very serious situation.

   Q: And the fourth level, to evacuate, can they also ignore that? For example, if a travel agent offers tours even though there is a warning by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evacuate, how would the Government react to that? Would the Government halt the travel?

   Mr. Takashima: The travel agencies are all advised to follow the advice by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

   Q: Have you had any reactions from the Governments of China or Hong Kong?

   Mr. Takashima: No.

   Q: The economic impact could be quite significant. Do you know where Japanese travelers rank in terms of the number of people who visit Hong Kong? They must be one of the largest groups.

   Mr. Takashima: I am sorry but I do not have that kind of information.

   Q: Considering that travel agencies have already started to cancel their package tours and airlines are forced to cut back on their flights, would you say that this travel warning is actually coming late compared to the trend that is already occurring?

   Mr. Takashima: As I have said, we started issuing travel advisories as early as March 17. This is a continuation of our advisories or the adjustment of the content of the advisories in reaction to the worsening of the situation. Therefore, we do not think that it is belated.

   Q: When was the last time that you issued a travel warning for a country because of an infectious disease?

   Mr. Takashima: Just for a disease, I do not think that there is any precedence for that, so this is the first this year.

   Q: And apart from this year?

   Mr. Takashima: Let me check on that.

   Q: And the last travel warning was in regard to Iraq?

   Mr. Takashima: The last advisory was in regard to possible terrorist attacks in various places. As for a travel warning, the latest was for the situation in Iraq.

3. Question concerning possible trip by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi to Europe

   Q: There was a report in Kyodo News that Foreign Minister Kawaguchi will visit the United Kingdom, the French Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany to discuss reconstruction of postwar Iraq, and to seek backing for a role for the United Nations in coordinating those efforts. Is this true and has this been decided?

   Mr. Takashima: At the moment, nothing has been decided but generally speaking, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is trying to take any possible opportunity to exchange views on various situations, in particular these days on the situation surrounding Iraq and its postwar reconstruction, with various countries concerned. For that reason, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been considering the possibility of a trip abroad by Foreign Minister Kawaguchi but nothing has been decided yet. In addition, we have to take into consideration the fact that the Diet is in session.

   Q: Is there a possibility of a trip abroad, specifically to the UK, France and Germany?

   Mr. Takashima: At this moment, I have no information to mention specific names.

4. Question concerning possible missile launch by North Korea

   Q: Yesterday, in regard to the possible missile test by North Korea, reports say that the United States of America has confirmed the test. Japan says that there may have been a test but there is no confirmation. The Republic of Korea, after saying that there was no test, is now saying that there is a small possibility that there was a test. Have you had any concrete confirmation whether there was a test?

   Mr. Takashima: The Government of Japan is still verifying the report that North Korea launched a surface-to-sea missile, but there has been no confirmation yet. We are still checking.

   Related Information (Japan-North Korea Relations)
   
5. Question concerning Japan's humanitarian assistance

   Q: In connection with the cost of reconstruction of Iraq, the war seems to progressing and reports say that the coalition forces are about 50 miles outside of Baghdad. You mentioned that there was an ad hoc group between the ministries to coordinate what Japan's reconstruction efforts may be and also Japan has appointed an ambassador to coordinate and negotiate with overseas governments. Do you have any estimate on what the cost for the reconstruction might be? Do you have any timetable when the Government will seek the first batch of money for these efforts?

   Mr. Takashima: The United Nations and its 16 agencies issued a so-called flash appeal last week and we are making a study of each of the appeals made by those agencies. This work is being done by the ad hoc team of various officials from various ministries, including Ambassador Fumiaki Takahashi. I hope that the Japanese response to those appeals will come sometime next week. That is for humanitarian assistance for this situation.

   As for assistance for the reconstruction of Iraq, we still think that it is still too early to come up with those figures but we have to find out the actual outcome of the military action. We are communicating with various countries including the United States and the United Kingdom on this issue.

   Q: There was a report that Japan plans to ship 30,000 tons of rice to the Middle East. Is that related to one of the appeals by the United Nations?

   Mr. Takashima: Foreign Minister Kawaguchi expressed her wish to see some sort of visible contribution to humanitarian assistance by the Government and people of Japan be made, and she suggested that sending rice might be part of such assistance but no concrete decision has been made yet.

   Q: When will that be decided?

   Mr. Takashima: That will also be decided possibly next week.

   Related Information (The Issue of Iraq)
   Related Information (Japan's Humanitarian Assistance, Assistance to Neighboring Countries and Reconstruction Assistance)