Press Conference 28 June 2005
- Visit by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress to Saipan Island
- Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on the presidential election in Iran
- Statement by the Press Secretary on the poison gas accident in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China
- Telephone conversation between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom
- Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
- Visit to Japan by Chief Emeritus of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) Tommy Thompson
- Japanese grant assistance to Iraq, the United Republic of Tanzania, Mongolia and the Union of Myanmar
- Question concerning incident involving Japanese teaching material
- Questions concerning Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in Iraq
- Visit by Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress to Saipan Island
Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon and thank you very much for coming to the briefing. Today, I would like to make several announcements before I take questions.
First, Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan are in Saipan Island to offer condolences for those who died in World War II and pray for world peace on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the end of the war. They arrived to the Island yesterday and met with the survivors of the Battle of Saipan, former Japanese soldiers, and families of deceased soldiers. Today they are going to visit the memorial for the war dead in the mid-pacific and other memorials before returning to Japan this evening.
- Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations on the presidential election in Iran
Mr. Takashima: Secondly, I would like to put it on the record that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the following two statements by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations yesterday. One is on the election of the new President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and it is stated as follows:
Japan expects that the new President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will continue domestic reforms and that he will work on various policies including the nuclear issue while placing importance on Iran's relations with the international community.
Japan attaches importance to its relations with Iran, an important Middle Eastern country, with which it has enjoyed friendly relations including high-level exchanges in such fields as politics, economy and culture. Japan hopes that such traditionally friendly relations will further advance and expand.
- Statement by the Press Secretary on the poison gas accident in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China
Mr. Takashima: The other statement is on the poison gas accident in Guangzhou City in Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China.
As a result of a survey made by a team dispatched from Japan to investigate the poison gas accident that occurred on 21 June in Guangzhou City, it was proved on 26 June that the accident had been caused by a chemical weapon of Japan's now defunct Army.
It is very regrettable that such an accident should have happened and the Government of Japan sincerely expresses its heartfelt sympathy to those injured.
Japan intends to do its utmost to further accelerate the disposal of dangerously abandoned chemical weapons so that such an accident will not take place again. As Japan has been consulting with the Chinese side for its quick responses so as to construct disposal facilities in Haerba Ling, Jilin Province, where a large amount of chemical weapons are said to be buried, it will take appropriate measures in cooperation with China in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.
- Telephone conversation between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom
Mr. Takashima: The next announcement is about Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's telephone conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom (UK). Prime Minister Koizumi had a 25 minute telephone conversation with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday to discuss agendas of the forthcoming Gleneagles Group of Eight (G8) Summit Meeting that included Africa and climate change.
The two leaders agreed to further cooperate with each other to bring about a successful Summit Meeting. This telephone conversation was done through a television conference system, and Prime Minister Koizumi took advantage of this system to show his no-necktie outfit or COOLBIZ outfit to the UK Prime Minister to explain that this way of dressing lightly will certainly help people cope with global warming.
- Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Phan Van Khai of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Mr. Takashima: The next announcement is about the visit of Prime Minister Phan Van Khai of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam. Prime Minister Khai will visit Japan on 1 July on his return from his official visit to the United States of America and Canada.
During his stay, Prime Minister Koizumi will host a working dinner in order for Prime Minister Khai to discuss various issues including bilateral relations. Japan expects that this visit will further promote friendly cooperative relations between Japan and Viet Nam.
- Visit to Japan by Chief Emeritus of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) Tommy Thompson
Mr. Takashima: The next announcement is about the visit of Mr. Tommy Thompson from 28 June to 3 July.
Mr. Tommy Thompson, the Chief Emeritus of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) and former Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, will visit Japan at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During his visit to Japan, Mr. Thompson will deliver a keynote speech at the Commemorative Symposium on the Fifth Anniversary of the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit hosted by Friends of the Global Fund, Japan.
This group, the Friends of the Global Fund, Japan, and the Japan Center for International Exchange began a survey project in February of this year on 12 East Asian countries and regions' responses to the spread of AIDS and other communicable diseases, with the cooperation of academics and practitioners from each country. Based on the results of that survey, the Symposium will be held on 30 June in Tokyo to bring together experts from international organizations, research institutions, foundations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to discuss ways of promoting regional cooperation in dealing with these devastating communicable diseases.
It is hoped that Mr. Richard Feachem, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and Mr. Yoshiro Mori, former Prime Minister of Japan and Chair of the Friends of the Global Fund, Japan, as well as Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan, will attend this Symposium to deliver speeches.
- Japanese grant assistance to Iraq, the United Republic of Tanzania, Mongolia and the Union of Myanmar
Mr. Takashima: Lastly, I would like to give some information on Japanese grant assistance. The Government of Japan decided to provide grant assistance to the various projects in four nations.
First, to Iraq, the Japanese Government will provide 300 million yen or US$2.83 million for a safe water distribution program and a road repair and pavement program in the Governorate of Al-Muthanna in the southern part of Iraq.
Secondly, to the United Republic of Tanzania, the Japanese Government will provide 540 million yen or US$4.9 million for a safe water distribution program in this nation.
Thirdly, to Mongolia, the Japanese Government will provide 1.46 billion yen or US$13.4 million for a road construction program to build trunk roads and road bridges in the eastern part of the nation.
Fourthly, to the Union of Myanmar, the Japanese Government will provide 1.1 billion yen or US$10.8 million for the construction of the Human Resources Empowerment Center in Yangon to train specialists on market economy and cultural exchange and for the tree planting project in central Myanmar to foster afforestation in the dry area.
- Question concerning incident involving Japanese teaching material
Q: I am aware that the teaching material for Japanese social studies were seized in China. Is the Government going to launch a protest to that effect?
Mr. Takashima: The Government is now trying to find out the exact nature of the incident, which law was violated or what sort of accusation was made by the Chinese authority, before making any decisions on governmental action for this case. So far we understand that the school has agreed to pay the penalty fee and so forth but we are still checking on it.
- Questions concerning Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in Iraq
Q: There is a news report about the US army asking the Japanese Government to extend next year's plan for the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) in Iraq. Could you confirm this report?
Mr. Takashima: Actually, we have not received any official requests from anybody about extending the duration of the stay of Japanese SDF in Iraq. The Government of Japan will decide in accordance with the careful consideration of the situation in Iraq as well as the possible requests from the Iraqi authorities on whether or not to extend the duration of the stay of Japanese SDF in Iraq. However, the Law Concerning the Special Measures on Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance in Iraq currently calls for the Japanese Government to dispatch the SDF until December of this year. Therefore, there is plenty of time to make the considerations and nothing has been decided yet.
Q: You said there were no special requests; were there any informal requests?
Mr. Takashima: We have not received any requests from anybody on the stay of the SDF in Iraq.
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