Press Conference 23 August 2005
- Introduction
- Posting of translations of Japanese junior high school history textbooks on Internet website
- International symposium on the preservation of Iraqi marshlands
- Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of the Kingdom of Thailand
- Visit to Japan by Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Dawei of the People's Republic of China
- Submission of Iraqi draft constitution to the National Assembly
- Technical cooperation between Japan and the Federated States of Micronesia
- Questions concerning translations of history textbooks
- Question concerning Six-Party Talks
- Question concerning joint military exercise between China and Russia
- Follow-up questions concerning Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei's visit
- Introduction
Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon. Let me begin my very first press conference.
From today, twice weekly, as has been the case with my predecessor, Mr. Hatsuhisa Takashima, I will be giving the press conferences. One of my tasks is to definitely increase the attendance of this press conference. I am not satisfied with the number that I am looking at now. I would like to, as much as I can, first of all, increase the interest among the non-Japanese media in what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing, and as a result, increase the number of attendees.
First, I am sure you have a flyer about me. My name is Tomohiko Taniguchi. I have been a bureaucrat for only less than a month. I was appointed on 2 August as Deputy Press Secretary. I used to be a journalist myself. I was trained as a financial journalist and worked for a magazine called Nikkei Business for more than 18 years. I have been posted to places like London, Shanghai and Washington D.C.
I am not so sure as of yet about what I can do and how I can use my capacity to enhance the Foreign Ministry. However, one of the things that I would like to do is maintain openness to the media community and remain accountable. As a financial journalist, I have been accustomed to buzz words such as "disclosure," "transparency" and "accountability." These, I think, are three of the most important things to keep in mind if you are a manager of corporate finance of any major corporation. The same is true with the Foreign Ministry, and for that matter, other ministries across the board.
I am accessible seven days a week, 24 hours a day. As far as you need me, I am accessible.
- Posting of translations of Japanese junior high school history textbooks on Internet website
Mr. Taniguchi: In terms of openness, one of the things that I would like to say for today's conference is about making Japanese textbooks available in foreign languages. This is one of the breaking news stories of today's conference. I think it is going to be one of the major steps forward in terms of providing the world with the kind of information that has been needed for many years. It is to make the Japanese original textbooks for junior high schools available in languages other than Japanese. The first attempt is to post them in Chinese and Korean.
From tomorrow, the translations are going to be uploaded on the website shown in the release. If you go to the following website, you can see the texts translated into Chinese and Korean. The English translation will follow in due course. The first translations that are going to be made available are in Chinese and Korean. The URL to get to the website is http://www.je-kaleidoscope.jp. There, you can see the textbooks translated into Chinese and Korean, or more precisely speaking, such content as relevant to Japan's modern history in terms of Japan's relationship with the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea (ROK), the neighboring nations. Our attempt is to post parts of Japan's modern history textbooks, and ultimately, we are hoping to post as much content as possible. That is the first issue that I wanted to touch on.
- International symposium on the preservation of Iraqi marshlands
Mr. Taniguchi: The second one is about Japan's effort to help preserve the precious natural resources in Iraq.
If you are familiar with biblical literature, the place we are looking at resonates in the minds and hearts of many western people across the board. What Japan has been doing is preserving the water and marshland areas of southern Iraq. It is called Project for Support for Environmental Management of Iraqi Marshlands.
We are going to hold an international symposium on 24 August at the United Nations University (UNU), which as you know is in Tokyo. The symposium is open to the public so long as seats are available. If you are interested, there is a colleague of ours who can give you directions and so on and arrange your attendance. So please come over to express your interest.
The parties who will be attending the symposium include those from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and also from the Government of Iraq. This symposium aims to discuss how best to preserve the marshlands in Iraq, and the Prime Minister's Office has been very much keen on pursuing this project. I think it is a very good piece of effort done by the Japanese Government to help preserve the precious historic memories of Iraq.
- Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of the Kingdom of Thailand
Mr. Taniguchi: Also, in terms of schedule, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of the Kingdom of Thailand is going to visit Japan in his official capacity from 31 August to 1 September. As has been the case with many previous state visits, this is partly to attend the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan that has been going on in Aichi Prefecture.
During his stay in Japan, there will be the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Prime Minister Thaksin. During the bilateral meeting, the topics that are going to be discussed will include topics concerning the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the two nations, Japan and Thailand.
I should take the liberty in saying that as someone who is new at this ministry, one of the things that I have found interesting is the quality of the free trade treaty in general terms between Japan and Thailand. It is much more rich in content and much more advanced than the corresponding treaties that have been forged between the nation in question and other nations. It is a kind of treaty that can be forged only between a nation such as Japan, which is an advanced nation, and countries like the Republic of Singapore and Thailand. So I would urge you to compare the content of these treaties that are being forged between a host of nations in the East Asian region. If you look at the content of the treaty between Japan and Thailand and if you compare that with other treaties, you will see the difference. Obviously Prime Minister Thaksin's state visit is going to be one of the most important diplomatic events that we are going to have in a couple of weeks time.
- Visit to Japan by Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Dawei of the People's Republic of China
Mr. Taniguchi: Also, in terms of the Six-Party Talks, the summer recess is over. Diplomatic muscle is being flexed so-to-speak. Japan is going to have a couple of visits.
First, from China, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Wu Dawei, who has been dealing with the Six-Party Talks, is going to meet with Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Tsuneo Nishida on 24 August and exchange views on Japan-China relations in general, the international situation and other issues.
On the same day, Vice-Minister Wu Dawei will also have an exchange of views with Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Kenichiro Sasae of the Foreign Ministry on situations regarding North Korea including the Six-Party Talks.
- Submission of the draft constitution of Iraq to the National Assembly
Mr. Taniguchi: Before taking questions, let me just touch on other issues briefly. As you know, the draft constitution of Iraq was submitted to the National Assembly.
In the statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura on the submission of the Iraqi draft constitution to the National Assembly, Japan welcomes the submission as it represents an important step toward the democratization of Iraq. Japan hopes that Iraq's ethnic and religious groups will further pursue their discussions by Thursday, 25 August, and that the draft constitution will be adopted in the National Assembly. As Japan hopes that Iraq's political process will further progress, it will continue to extend active assistance to the nation-building effort of the Iraqi people.
That is the statement issued by Foreign Minister Machimura, and you will get the press release.
- Technical cooperation between Japan and the Federated States of Micronesia
Mr. Taniguchi: The next announcement is about the signing of the agreement on technical cooperation between the Governments of Japan and the Federated States of Micronesia. If you are interested, you can read more about it in the press release.
- Questions concerning translations of history textbooks
Q: You mentioned the textbook issue, about the foreign language versions. There are of course different textbooks. Which publishers' textbooks were translated and which sections are going to be posted?
Mr. Taniguchi: Thank you very much for your question. I should have definitely touched on that.
There are actually eight different textbooks published by eight different publishers. My colleagues have done a lot to convince all of these publishers of the necessity to post the translations in Chinese and Korean. You will see in total eight different texts of those textbooks. That is going to be all, there are no other textbooks, only eight. Translations of those eight textbooks are going to be available.
In terms of the second part of your question, what are going to be available are the parts that deal with the modern history of Japan. In terms of the modern history of Japan, there are many, many issues. As a first attempt, we are going to upload those texts that are relevant to Japan's dealings or relationships with China and the ROK. The focus is rather narrow for the moment.
Q: Is it going to touch upon the war?
Mr. Taniguchi: There are texts in the textbooks that describe what happened, what the relationships were like between Japan and say China or between Japan and the ROK. Those parts, as far as they are relevant to Japan-China or Japan-ROK relations, were all translated into Chinese and Korean and will be available on the website from tomorrow morning.
Q: Does the Japanese Government have any plan to post an English version of the textbooks?
Mr. Taniguchi: Yes, it is going to follow. It will take another, I am not sure, a couple of weeks or so, but the work is being done.
Q: What do you hope to achieve by translating the textbooks into Chinese and Korean?
Mr. Taniguchi: Obviously discussion has to be based on facts. The Government of Japan has published no textbooks in Chinese or Korean that are as accessible as they would be on the Internet. This is going to be the first such attempt from the side of the Japanese to let people, not only in China or the ROK but also in other parts of the world who are interested, know about what is written and what is not written in Japanese textbooks. That is going to be basically it. It is part of attempts to provide as much information as possible, and the discussions are going to be healthier if they are going to be based on facts rather than on just assumptions or rumors or speculations.
Q: Do you know if the Chinese side has any plans to translate their own textbooks?
Mr. Taniguchi: I do not know.
Q: Did you say that the translation is done by each textbook company publisher?
Mr. Taniguchi: I will come back to you on that.
Q: Why was it so secretive, I mean, that only now the Japanese Government decided to translate the textbooks and show them around the world?
Mr. Taniguchi: Well, Japanese textbooks are first and foremost for Japanese-speaking kids. There is definitely no need for the textbooks to be translated into other languages but they were in order for Japan to provide information to the interested people outside of Japan. That is an extra effort from the side of the Japanese Government. I am not so sure if other countries have done similar things, for instance, I am not sure if you can read German textbooks in Chinese, English or Japanese.
Q: Was there a need for somebody to read them?
Mr. Taniguchi: It has obviously been one of the sources of conflicts between Japan and China and between Japan and the ROK. That is why.
Q: Could you go into more detail about the period which is going to be covered in the Chinese or Korean translations? For example, from around which year?
Mr. Taniguchi: You can verify that yourself from tomorrow morning. There are chapters in Japanese textbooks, chapters for ancient history, chapters for medieval history, chapters for modern history and so forth. Those chapters that cover modern history are the chapters from which the content has been picked up.
- Question concerning Six-Party Talks
Q: You mentioned "a couple of visits." Could you be more specific? Who besides Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei will be visiting Japan?
Mr. Taniguchi: In terms of other visits related to the Six-Party talks, as I said, on 24 August, the Japan-China bilateral meeting is going to be held. On the same day, Deputy Minister of the National Security Council Lee Jong-Seok of the ROK is also going to come to Japan. And on the next day, 25 August, Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Sasae of the Foreign Ministry is going to go to Washington D.C. to meet with his counterpart, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill of the US, to exchange views on the Six-Party Talks.
- Question concerning joint military exercise between China and Russia
Q: What is the Foreign Ministry's position on the joint military exercise between China and the Russian Federation?
Mr. Taniguchi: Although I am not so sure whether an official statement as such has been issued by the Foreign Ministry on this specific exercise, in general terms, so far as these two countries express in public that their aim is such and such, any neighboring nation is not in any position to deny that purpose.
- Follow-up questions concerning Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei's visit
Q: Is one of the purposes of the meeting to possibly set up a visit of a Chinese leader to Japan or a Japanese leader to China? Is that one of the purposes of the meeting?
Mr. Taniguchi: I do not think so. It is related to the Six-Party Talks.
More specifically on what sort of things are going to be discussed between Deputy Foreign Minister Nishida and Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, they include Japan-China relations in general, the international situation and other issues. It is related to the Six-Party Talks but other issues are definitely going to be discussed of course.
Q: You also discussed ties between Japan and China.
Mr. Taniguchi: Well of course other issues may be discussed, but it will depend on whether the situation will evolve in that way. So far as the understanding between the two ministries is concerned, the purpose of his visit is to exchange views as related to the Six-Party Talks, but of course there are other issues that are going to be discussed and they may include those points that you touched on. No one can say whether that is going to be the case.
Q: Will there be any discussion on the gas fields in the East China Sea?
Mr. Taniguchi: I cannot speculate on what will be discussed and what will not be.
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