Press Conference by the Deputy Press Secretary, 10 June 2010

Adoption of Resolution 1929 on Iran by the United Nations Security Council
Telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Okada and Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation
Statement by Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on the Presidential Election of the Republic of the Philippines
The 24th Joint Meeting of the United States-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON)
Japan to provide cultural assets for display at 'A Passage to Asia' art exhibition, to be held as a parallel event for the Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 8)
APEC related meetings
VIP Visits
Questions concerning relations with the Russian Federation
Question concerning the 24th Joint Meeting of the United States-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON)
Questions concerning the visit to Japan of President of Afghanistan Mr. Karzai
Follow-up questions concerning relations with the Russian Federation
Question concerning the appointment of Minister Renho in the new administration
Questions concerning the discussions with the US side on the relocation of the Futenma airbase

Adoption of Resolution 1929 on Iran by the United Nations Security Council

Deputy Press Secretary Hidenobu Sobashima: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I have several topics to share before inviting your questions.

The first is on Iran. Early today Japan time, yesterday New York time, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1929, which contains additional measures concerning Iran's nuclear issue. This resolution sends to Iran a clear message of the international community, which Japan supported as a member of the Council. Following this adoption, it is important for the international community to implement the resolution steadily, and to urge Iran to make a sensible decision toward a peaceful and diplomatic solution of its nuclear issue. As Japan considered it necessary to take resolute measures on Iran's nuclear issue, taking into account the importance of maintaining a solid nuclear non-proliferation regime, what has been done to the comparable situation of North Korea's nuclear and missile issues and the importance of stability of the Middle East which has a great influence on the world energy supply, Japan has been actively engaged in the Council's deliberation toward the adoption of this resolution so that the international community will send a strong message to Iran.

It is deplorable that despite the repeated calls from the international community, Iran has yet to comply with the requirements of the UN Security Council Resolutions, including the suspension of the enrichment-related activities. Japan will continue to take every possible opportunity to urge Iran to respond to these requirements and to return to the negotiation as promptly as possible, and make efforts to solve its nuclear issue through dialogue.

This is the statement by Minister Katsuya Okada. The Japanese original was issued today, however the English translation is now under preparation. So, as soon as the English translation is ready, I hope that this statement will be posted on our website.

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Telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Okada and Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation

Mr. Sobashima: Second is the telephone conversation between Minister Okada and his counterpart in Russia, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, last night.

Last night, Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, had a telephone conversation with Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, following Minister Okada's reappointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs under the Kan government.

Minister Okada explained to his counterpart that there will be no major changes in Japanese policies. As for the relationship with Russia, the Japanese side hopes to promote both political and economic relations as a whole with Russia. Prime Minister Kan looks forward to meeting with President Medvedev on the occasion of the G8 Summit in Canada. At the same time, Minister Okada himself would like to meet Minister Lavrov in Japan at an early date, to discuss economic and political issues, including the territorial issue. Minister Lavrov responded as follows: He completely agreed with what Minister Okada said on the constructive cooperation between the two countries promoted under the Hatoyama government should continue and develop further in a friendly manner under the Kan government. Against the background of developing bilateral cooperation in security, economic, and all other fields as a whole, the Russian Federation is prepared to continue constructive dialogue on issues related to the peace treaty, based on the mutual trust.

As for his visit to Japan, in response to the renewed invitation from Minister Okada, he looked forward to paying a visit at a mutually convenient time. Then the two ministers discussed the issue of the sinking of the Korean Naval patrol vessel. Minister Okada stated that the Republic of Korea government is responding in a calm and sensible manner, and that Japan supports the Republic of Korea. He then asked about the recent dispatch of a Russian expert team to the Republic of Korea. Minister Lavrov replied that the team, dispatched at the request of the Korean leader, has just returned home, and that Russia is cautiously verifying and analyzing the results of their team's investigation, adding that he expects its conclusion to be obtained soon. Then the two ministers agreed that Japan and Russia will communicate well with each other on what should be done on this issue, including the possible discussion at the UN Security Council.

Related Information (Press Release)

Statement by Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on the Presidential Election of the Republic of the Philippines

Mr. Sobashima: Japan congratulates on the election of Mr. Benigno Aquino III as the President of Republic of the Philippines, confirmed yesterday, 9 June, as a result of the election which took place on 10 May. This is a statement of Foreign Minister Okada.

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The 24th Joint Meeting of the United States-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON)

Mr. Sobashima: The 24th Joint Meeting of the United States-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON) will be held today and tomorrow, 10 and 11 June, in Washington, D.C. This biennial meeting, which has a long history going back to 1962, will be attended by panelists from Japan and the United States representing the government, business, academia, media and other sectors. The outcome of the discussion will be presented as a joint statement to the governments and the public of both countries.

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Japan to provide cultural assets for display at 'A Passage to Asia' art exhibition, to be held as a parallel event for the Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 8)

Mr. Sobashima: The next is the press release entitled "Japan to provide cultural assets for display at 'A Passage to Asia' art exhibition, to be held as a parallel event for the Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 8)".

On the sidelines of the Eighth Asia-Europe Meeting Summit (ASEM 8) to be held in Brussels in October, an art exhibition titled 'A Passage to Asia' will be staged from 25 June to 10 October. The exhibition is designed to introduce 2,500 years of history of cultural exchanges actively conducted between Asia, including Japan, and Europe through the Silk Road and other routes, by displaying artworks depicting symbolic exchanges in each era. Culture is one of the topics of ASEM, in addition to political and economic agendas. For this reason, Japan has decided to send 36 cultural assets, including two Important Cultural Properties, to be exhibited.

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APEC related meetings

Mr. Sobashima: The last item is APEC. While we concluded the Meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade last weekend, we still have, for APEC, various ministers meetings and of course the Summit Meeting in November. We distributed the schedule of various APEC meetings, together with the outcome of last weekend's Trade Ministers meeting, that is the Statement of the Chair and the Statement on Supporting the Multilateral Trading System and Resisting Protectionism Meeting by the Ministers participating in the APEC Trade Ministers meeting.

Related Information (APEC JAPAN 2010)

VIP Visits

Mr. Sobashima: As for the visits, the Afghan President, Mr. Karzai, will be coming to Japan as scheduled next week, from 16-20 June. He will be the first Head of State received by the Kan government.

Of course we have the G8 Summit and G20 Summit toward the end of this month, and as soon as the participants and the schedule are confirmed we will make an announcement of course.

These are the topics I would like to share with you at the outset, and I welcome your questions.

Questions concerning relations with the Russian Federation

Q: A question about Russia. The last few months when we asked about the status of the territorial questions, the Japanese side usually said we are waiting for new suggestions from the Russian side, and the Russian side always says that they are waiting for new suggestions from the Japanese side. Now the Russian side still says that, just recently. Where are we on that topic? Who is supposed to make the next step?

Mr. Sobashima: Thank you very much. First, I have to make it clear that on detailed exchanges made diplomatically we should refrain from going into detail. And also I personally would like to refrain from commenting on reports without confirming what was actually said, if those reports are newspaper reports or TV or radio. We need to check what the actual discussions were. Having said this, I will make general comments. Our position is that we hope for the return of all four sets of islands. For this purpose, at one stage there were some proposals talked about, which might have given the impression that Japan is ready to give up some part of the claims. So we should be very careful. Our position is that we request the return of all four sets of islands, and in order to achieve this we should be very persistent and consistent, and we should involve very serious and objective discussion with the Russian side. Of course, as I explained, what Minister Lavrov said is that he is ready to consider the issue of the peace treaty. He may not have specifically mentioned the territorial issue, but by implication, saying the issues related to the peace treaty, we understand that these include the territorial issue. He also said that against the background of expanding relationship as a whole, both political and economic, and they are ready to have discussions on a mutual trust basis. I am afraid I am not responding exactly to your question, but I explained the general position that the government has on these territories.

Q: The Russian side has previously said that they could imagine having a peace treaty where it says the territorial question will be solved later. Is that a possibility for the Japanese Government?

Mr. Sobashima: Again, I shouldn't make a comment which may negatively prejudice our position, so obviously I am not able to respond affirmatively to that question. We should be very careful.

Q: Sorry, it is not a question. I came a little late. This meeting between Japan and Russia is concerning the North Korean issue?

Mr. Sobashima: They discussed that also. It was a telephone conversation.

Q: When did it happen?

Mr. Sobashima: Last night. It was a telephone conversation between Minster Okada and Foreign Minister Lavrov. They discussed the issue of the sinking of the Cheonan, and the main point is that Minister Okada asked what were the results of the Russian team's investigation. The Russian side dispatched a team to the Republic of Korea to make their own investigation of this sinking issue, and then the team returned to Russia but there is no conclusion yet. In any event the two ministers agreed that they would communicate with each other well on what should be done, including perhaps in the framework of the UN Security Council.

Q: Did they also talk about the situation in the Security Council?

Mr. Sobashima: I am not able to give you the detail, but first Minister Okada asked a question and the response as I explained was that there was no conclusion yet, and the second is that the two ministers agreed to communicate with each other. I am not able to give the details, but in any event they agreed to communicate with each other on this issue.

Q: Besides the Security Council?

Mr. Sobashima: On what should be done, including when it comes to the Security Council, they agreed to discuss. And even if it is to be taken up in another forum they also agreed to discuss it. So there was agreement to continue communication wherever the forum that is going to take this issue of the sinking.

Q: One question regarding the UN Security Council, just to make it clear. The Russian side said that they will take a little time to examine the results of the fact finding mission which came back from South Korea, so it will take a little bit more time until Russia is able to have its own viewpoint regarding the Security Council situation and the Cheonan sinking.

Mr. Sobashima: Again, I am not in a position to give you the details of the discussion, but the point is that the Russian side had not, at the time of the telephone conversation, made any conclusion of their own investigation of the incident. The next is a different thing, that they agreed to continue communications.

Q: I was just curious, you said that they will have their results soon, and it is a question more in general than regarding the politics, that as long as the Russian side does not have the results they cannot have a point of view regarding what should be done in the Security Council.

Mr. Sobashima: I think that is logical, but I am not in a position to comment on Russia's behalf.

Question concerning the 24th Joint Meeting of the United States-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON)

Q: Regarding the 24th joint meeting on cultural exchange. When is it going to be held?

Mr. Sobashima: Today and tomorrow in Washington D.C. We have distributed a paper for this CULCON meeting, and also the members who will be participating, including Ambassador Monji of my ministry.

Related Information (Press Release)

Questions concerning the visit to Japan of President of Afghanistan Mr. Karzai

Q: I don't know if there was also a paper distributed about one President's visit from 16 to 20 June.

Mr. Sobashima: I have to check. Earlier there was an announcement before the change of the government in Japan that President Karzai is expected to come, so we confirmed in the new administration that his schedule remains unchanged. We have to check, there may be some press release already issued a couple of weeks ago, then it should be on the Foreign Ministry website.

Q: And he will be the first President to be received by the new Prime Minister?

Mr. Sobashima: Yes, but just incidentally. Because he was invited by the Hatoyama government.

Q: Is there some objective of some discussions during his meeting with President Karzai?

Mr. Sobashima: Of course we expect that in the meetings between President Karzai and the Japanese side that perhaps we exchange views on the situation in Afghanistan, and perhaps we would discuss the progress of our assistance. We committed US$5 billion assistance, and we will review perhaps the situation of our assistance. Some are already done, but other specific projects we will form at a later stage.

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Follow-up questions concerning relations with the Russian Federation

Q: Can you tell us if you are trying to set up a meeting between Prime Minister Kan and President Medvedev around the G8 or G20 meetings in Canada.

Mr. Sobashima: Yes, I think I said that Prime Minister Kan looks forward to meeting President Medvedev. This is what Foreign Minister Okada said to his counterpart. I don't know whether the meeting will be a short one or a full meeting. It may be just meeting on the occasion of the group meeting, but we don't know yet. In any event Minister Okada conveyed Prime Minister Kan's expectation of meeting President Medvedev on the occasion of the G8 and G20 meetings.

Q: So it doesn't mean that Japan is seeking a bilateral summit meeting?

Mr. Sobashima: Sorry, it doesn't mean that we are not seeking a meeting. There is a possibility. In any event, the Prime Minister wishes to meet the Russian President. It is natural that the two sides would consider the possibility of a separate bilateral meeting, but we are not in a position of whether it will be actually taking place or not.

Q: Are there any lower level contacts between the Japanese Foreign Ministry and Russia concerning the Cheonan and the Northern Territories right now?

Mr. Sobashima: Yes, we have daily contacts in Tokyo and in Moscow between the embassies and the ministries, but we are not in a position to explain to you in detail. Also, especially for the territorial issue, as this is a politically very important issue, therefore I feel it is only appropriate for the ministers or the Prime Minister and the President to discuss to have progress on the issue. So, yes, we have contacts, however we are not in a position to explain to you the detailed contents.

Question concerning the appointment of Minister Renho in the new administration

Q: Regarding the new administration, if I may. Taiwan and China are very interested in the new Minister Renho, since she is a Japanese born in Taiwan. Do you actually follow this discussion or the news media in Taiwan and China, and do you also follow the public sentiments for example by writers groups regarding Ms. Renho? Do you have to explain that to Taiwan and China?

Mr. Sobashima: Yes, I personally have seen some reports, but not necessarily as many reports as you have come across. But we do not feel it necessary to sort of take this issue bilaterally either with China or others.

Releted Information (The Japanese Government)

Questions concerning the discussions with the US side on the relocation of the Futenma airbase

Q: Two questions concerning Futenma. We were always told that there were no low-level working groups discussing Futenma in the last few months. Now there was an interview in Asahi Shinbun on Saturday with an American, and he describes in detail that there was a working group discussing trying to find solutions, so is he wrong?

Mr. Sobashima: Yes, there were the official level discussions between the two countries, for instance the deputy director general level, or the deputy assistant secretary level. But when there was first contact of my minister with Ambassador Roos, there was the ambassador or minister level discussions, but later of course we have discussions at the expert level, and of course before the 2+2 joint statement was issued, I think it was 28 May. The Ministers' level agreement was the result of the discussion at the official level, including the deputy director general level discussions, of course approved by the minister and approved by the government. Several months ago it was just a sort of contacts between the minister and the ambassador, but later there were official level consultations as well.

Q: But they were not made public.

Mr. Sobashima: No, we didn't make a positive announcement that the official level meetings were taking place, but there were newspaper reports that deputy director general level meetings were taking place here in Tokyo or in Washington. There were many reports, while we did not make announcements of those official level meetings.

Q: The other question is that people from the Social Democratic Party say that Mr. Hatoyama was not in favor of the declaration that has finally been adopted, but of a softer one, in particular one that did not name Henoko, but the Foreign Minister and the Minister of Defense were pushing the current declaration through. Is that correct?

Mr. Sobashima: I am not in a position to confirm what was not explained by the Prime Minister himself, or Minister Okada or Minister Ozawa. I am sorry. In any event, the Hatoyama government endorsed the 2+2 statement in a cabinet decision after that joint statement was issued.

If there are no further questions, thank you very much for coming.

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