Press Conference, 1 September 2006

Announcements
Visit to Japan by Mr. Christopher Hill, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
The Sixth Round of Negotiations between Japan and the Republic of Korea on the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone
Talks between Mr. Katsutoshi Kaneda, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mr. Yu Myung-hwan, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK
Discussion between Mr. Tsuneo Nishida, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Dr. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran
First "Gaimusho Open House"
Follow-up questions concerning the Gaimusho Open House
Follow-up questions concerning talks between Mr. Nishida and Dr. Araghchi
Follow-up question concerning the visit by Mr. Hill to Japan
Follow-up question concerning the EEZ talks

I. Announcements

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon, and welcome back to my regular press conference. Let me begin the first one after the summer recess.

On the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs there are already uploaded a couple of items that follow, such as:

The Press Secretary's statement on the United Nations Security Council Resolution on Darfur, Sudan;

And about

Assistance for "Social and Economic Empowerment of Mine-affected communities: Removing the Threat of Landmines and UXOs and Promoting Post-demining Rehabilitation" project in Lebanon;

And also about

Assistance for "Inter-Agency Programme on the Sustainable Rehabilitation of War Victims in Burundi" project;

And also about

Assistance for "Improvement of the Quality of Social Services and Infrastructure and Reproductive Health for Refugees and Host Communities" project in Turkmenistan;

and so on and so forth.

II. Visit to Japan by Mr. Christopher Hill, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Mr. Taniguchi: Apart from these, there has been a notice issued about the visit by Mr. Christopher Hill, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He is going to come to Japan on the 4th of September and leave on the 5th. During his stay he is going to be engaged in a talk with Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, Director-General of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about the situation in North Korea and other related issues. After this, he is going to visit the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea (ROK). That is number one as a new item.

III. The Sixth Round of Negotiations between Japan and the Republic of Korea on the delimitation of the Exclusive Economic Zone

Mr. Taniguchi: Also on the 4th of September and on the 5th of September, which are Monday and Tuesday, in Seoul there is going to be the sixth talk about the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) between the two countries Japan and the ROK. From the Japanese side, Mr. Ichiro Komatsu, Director-General of the International Legal Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from the ROK side, Mr. Park Hee Kwon, Director-General of the Treaties Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK, are attending.

They are going to be joined by officials form the foreign ministries of both nations, coast guards, and relevant government organizations. This is actually going to be the sixth talk. The previous talks were held five times, three times in 1996 and 1997. The process was started again of late in June 2006. Recently, this is going to be the second one, following the one that took place in June this year. The focus obviously is going to be two-fold. First, discussing the demarcation of the EEZs of both nations and secondly to set up a reliable system to give early information to one another when each of the two nations is going to conduct maritime surveying. That is about the EEZ talk which is taking place on the 4th and the 5th.

IV. Talks between Mr. Katsutoshi Kaneda, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mr. Yu Myung-hwan, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK

Mr. Taniguchi: Slightly related to this, there was actually a bilateral talk between Mr. Katsutoshi Kaneda, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and his counterpart Mr. Yu Myung-hwan, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK, on 31 August in the Kingdom of Sweden. There was an international donors' conference about the Republic of Lebanon taking place in Sweden, and both of these gentlemen attended that conference. During the meeting, both gentlemen met and discussed a lot of issues, but were in agreement about the importance of furthering cooperation between the two nations, no matter what sort of difficult political issues exist. About the maritime scientific survey, which is a relevant point to the previous one, both gentlemen expressed the need to establish a candid cooperation framework, and to solve issues related to the maritime scientific survey through the discussions and negotiations.

Also, they took up the issue of North Korea and discussed missile issues, and reiterated their positions about the importance of implementing the United Nations Security Council resolution that passed in July, following the missile launches of North Korea.

About the upcoming election for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the ROK side requested once again that Japan would support their candidate, Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK. In return, Mr. Kaneda said that it would be important for the next Secretary-General of the United Nations to be chosen from the Asian region.

V. Discussion between Mr. Tsuneo Nishida, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Dr. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Mr. Taniguchi: Today, as you may already know, there took place a bilateral discussion between Dr. Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his counterpart Mr. Tsuneo Nishida, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. Dr. Araghchi is now in Japan, and he had a talk with Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso yesterday, but during today's talk Dr. Araghchi once again explained the Iranian Government's position about the nuclear issue. The deadline imposed by the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) and the United Nations to put their uranium enrichment program on hold was not met, and Dr. Araghchi came to Japan to make the position about why it was not met. During the talk, Dr. Araghchi, as he did with Mr. Taro Aso yesterday, said that all doors on the side of the Iranian Government for negotiations are still open, and they are prepared to continue negotiations with the international community in good faith, on the grounds, as he says, that the counterparts of the Iranian Government in the international community would do the same in good faith.

Dr. Araghchi requested to Mr. Nishida that, as an influential nation among Asian countries, Japan play a positive role to solve these issues. In return, Mr. Nishida referred to the Director-General's report pointing out that Iran has failed to faithfully follow the United Nation Security Council's Resolution 1696, and once again urged the Iranian Government that they should return to the negotiation process as early as possible.

That is about the bilateral discussion between Dr. Araghchi and Mr. Nishida that took place today in Tokyo.

VI. First "Gaimusho Open House"

Mr. Taniguchi: Last but not least, let me make an announcement of a new initiative of the International Press Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is called "Gaimusho Open House." I, as Deputy Press Secretary, am giving a casual, off the record discussion venue after this, but in addition to that there is going to be a regular occasion called Gaimusho Open House. The first one is going to take place soon, on Monday of next week, which is the 4th of September. It will start at 18:00 and last for an hour. All members of the non-Japanese media are welcome.

This is going to remain a very much casual, open, and frank discussion forum. We are going to set no specific agenda for the moment, but we are thinking of inviting speakers both from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from the outside. This is going to be a fun event, and I would encourage you of course, but other members of the foreign media to join us for this happy hour.

VII. Follow-up questions concerning the Gaimusho Open House

Q: About the Gaimusho Open House, is it going to be every week?

Mr. Taniguchi: Not that often. We have not decided yet.

Q: So this would be between the press and the Foreign Minister?

Mr. Taniguchi: The host is going to be me, the Press Secretary and Assistant Press Secretary, and other members of the Press Division. We are thinking of inviting speakers, interesting speakers, to have lively discussions about many issues. They will mainly be related to foreign affairs, but not always.

VIII. Follow-up questions concerning talks between Mr. Nishida and Dr. Araghchi

Q: You mentioned about Mr. Nishida and Dr. Araghchi's meeting. It seems from the meetings with Dr. Araghchi and Mr. Aso yesterday and the one with Mr. Nishida that Iran continues to hold its position that it will continue with its uranium enrichment, but Japan is continuing to urge Iran to return to negotiations. Is there anything stronger that Japan has told Iran, apart from urging them to return to negotiations?

Mr. Taniguchi: There have been a number of attempts from the Japanese side to convince the Iranian side of how important it is for them to faithfully follow the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. Due to the time constraint for Mr. Taro Aso yesterday, he did not have much time to reiterate his position, but he understood that his position had already been well taken by the Iranian Government. He did not specifically mention about what Japan was going to do, but he did so with the idea that his position needed no reiteration, understanding that his point had already been well taken.

Q: Given that Iran does not seem to be flexible on its position, what do you think is the stance of the Government of Japan? Do you think it is satisfied, or is it disappointed?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is obviously disappointing that Iran has repeatedly failed to follow the resolution that has been coming out from the United Nations Security Council, but we should also note the difference between the two languages. You can see that the President of Iran always uses the most powerful language about it, but on the other hand, the Iranian Government, as shown by Dr. Araghchi this time around once again, also has never failed to repeatedly emphasize that their negotiation doors remain open, and remain for that matter flexible to come to the discussion table. Our position is, if that is really the case, do it as soon as possible. That is our message.

Q: How long has Japan been waiting for Iran to return to the negotiating table?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is not just Japan; the international community is waiting and waiting and waiting. This September is going to be a busy month for all of the member countries, and I should remind you that Japan is currently a member of the United Nations Security Council, so Japan obviously is going to be engaged in heated discussions with other nations such as EU3 and P3 nations to say to the Iranian side how important to them it would be to come back to the negotiation table

Q: Does the issue of Azadegan ever come up between the two nations?

Mr. Taniguchi: No, no word was mentioned.

IX. Follow-up question concerning the visit by Mr. Hill to Japan

Q: Mr. Hill is coming this Monday. Is his visit part of a regular forum for your nations with regard to the Six-Party Talks, or is there something that they have to decide upon?

Mr. Taniguchi: That I do not know much about.

X. Follow-up question concerning the EEZ talks

Q: You mentioned the EEZ talks on Monday and Tuesday in Seoul. So basically both nations have agreed to set up a reliable early communication system?

Mr. Taniguchi: It is too early to say that both nations have agreed about the need for setting up the early notification system, but there seems to be a consensus about pushing the case. The ROK side, according to what Mr. Kaneda heard from his counterpart yesterday, have become a little more forthcoming about establishing the early notification system that can be reliable, which is probably not dissimilar to the one that is already functioning between China and Japan.

Back to Index