Background Brief by a Foreign Ministry Official on the Japan-U.S. Bilateral Summit Meeting

June 19, 1997

Major Topics

Introduction of speaker and briefing status
Official of the International Press Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Welcome to the press conference by the Japanese delegation regarding the Japan-U.S. bilateral summit meeting and the foreign ministers' meeting held this afternoon. After the Foreign Ministry Official has given the briefing, there will be a question and answer session. When you have a question, please come to the nearest microphone and please disclose your name and affiliation.

A. Japan-U.S. bilateral summit meeting

Foreign Ministry Official 1: Good evening. Sorry to have kept you waiting. I will start from the Prime Minister's meeting with President Clinton, which took place from around 3:40. They actually met a little earlier, but we had a press session for about ten minutes, and then the actual talks went on from about 3:50 until 5:00. They took up a couple of bilateral issues and some international issues of interest. First, the Prime Minister said that he offers full cooperation to the President as the Chairman of the Denver Summit, and then they went on to discuss bilateral issues. First they talked about security issues. Both the President and the Prime Minister said that they were pleased that the Interim Report of the Review of the Guidelines has been agreed to and made public. The Prime Minister outlined to the President the efforts on the part of Japan to explain the content of the Interim Report on the Review of the Defense Guidelines to neighboring countries, including China, the Republic of Korea and the ASEAN countries. The President said that the partnership with Japan is something which contributes to the stability of the world as a whole. I'll not talk in the order of the agenda which they took up; I'll talk about the other part of bilateral relations, which is the economic issue. Here, the general remark was that they were both pleased with the trade issues having come off the front page of newspapers, which is a good thing. Then they talked about two major areas. One was generally about trade and the overall management of bilateral relations, and the other was the civil aviation talks. In regard to the overall management of bilateral economic relations, including trade, the President said there is a forecast in the States which points to an increased external surplus in the coming months. In this context, domestic demand-led economic growth and the deregulation efforts by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto were very important. The Prime Minister explained by saying that although some papers talk about the figures that were released very recently in rather a big way, the market is responding very calmly. Regarding the deregulation talks on which the two governments have agreed, the Prime Minister said that obviously this has to be done for the sake of Japan itself to reform the Japanese economy and society, but advice from a good friend like the United States is naturally welcome. Regarding the civil aviation talks, both were pleased that dates for informal talks have now been agreed. I'm sure you know the positions of both governments, but the two leaders reiterated those basic positions, namely that the U.S. side considers that open skies should be the ultimate aim and that certain efforts should be made in regard to the cargo area. We on the Japanese side said that we cannot agree to having open skies as the ultimate objective but that we would be flexible in coming to agreement on further liberalization, including cargo. Those were the bilateral relations issues. Other issues which were taken up were the Korean Peninsula, China, Russia, the United Nations and the environment. Concerning the Korean Peninsula, both agreed that moves or efforts towards holding the Four-Party Talks were very important. On China, both agreed that it is important to integrate China into the international community, including major international economic institutions. On Hong Kong, obviously the two leaders share the view that it is important for Hong Kong to continue to function as it is currently functioning, with a free market and the way of life currently enjoyed by the people of Hong Kong. Now, in regard to Russia, the President expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for his cooperation in making the Summit of the Eight possible, and also explained that there are some topics, like the monetary situation, which only the Seven need to talk about for effective purposes. Concerning the United Nations, both agreed on the importance of the reform of the United Nations. The President was explaining to the Prime Minister his recent efforts concerning fiscal reform and particularly steps now being taken in the United States toward repaying arrears. The Prime Minister stated that as for the United Nations reform, balanced reform conducted at three levels simultaneously or in parallel would be important, and these three areas are Security Council reform, financial reform and reform in the economic development area. They finally touched upon the issue of the environment and said that it would be important to send a good message from Denver. That is the gist of what the two leaders discussed.

B. Foreign Ministers' bilateral meeting

Foreign Ministry Official 1: I am not sure whether you are interested in the details of the foreign minister's meeting with Secretary Madeleine Albright. This preceded the meeting of the Prime Minister and the President, and they talked about, obviously, bilateral issues which were more or less the same, namely economic issues and security issues. They touched upon economic issues in a little bit more detail, but that's that. Then, the issue that was not touched by the President and Prime Minister and taken up by the foreign ministers is the issue of Cambodia. The peace process of Cambodia and the elections or establishment of the democratic government in Cambodia has been the fruit of the efforts by the international community, but led by Japan and the United States, and therefore the two agree that the two countries should take a major interest and active role in sending a message to Cambodia. The other issues are more or less similar in context to the Japan-U.S. summit talks, so I will stop here and if you have any questions please go ahead.
Japan-U.S. trade agreement
Q: We just got out of the briefing by Ambassador Barshefsky talking about the trade agreement that was announced today between the U.S. and Japan, and the U.S. has portrayed it with great significance, saying that this is somehow unprecedented access that the U.S. has had to Japan's deregulation process and that this is going to lead to major breakthroughs. Can you give us your assessment of first, how significant is this agreement, and second, is it really anything different from any prior agreement?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: We anticipated your questions, so we have another Foreign Ministry Official. He is in charge of this particular aspect of Japan-U.S. relations. Would you like to respond here?

Foreign Ministry Official 2: As for the deregulation issue, we agreed today that there would be enhanced initiatives on deregulation efforts, and that the level of dialogue on deregulation and competition policy would be elevated and the result of discussions would be reported to leaders. This is under the framework talks which started in July 1993. However, under these framework talks we are intensifying our talks on deregulation. So in this sense, since Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto has been emphasizing deregulation in the context of domestic economic and social changes that Prime Minister Hashimoto himself has been promoting, deregulation is a very important agenda item for Japan, and we think it is very important to be able to have meaningful dialogues between the United States and Japan.

Issues regarding Japan's deregulation
Q: Does the U.S. have a level of access and influence in Japan's process any greater than it has in prior talks?

Foreign Ministry Official 2: When it comes to access, it is a very difficult thing to judge, but at least we agreed to enhance our dialogue. There has been somewhat stagnant discussion under the existing working groups, and we thought that it might be a good idea to elevate the level of discussions, and the result of the discussion will be reported to leaders. So in this sense, we think that this dialogue between the United States could lead to a significant event. Let me just stress one point, that as written in the Joint Statement, this enhanced initiative will take place under the basic principle of two-way dialogue, so there are some issues which the Government of Japan may raise to the U.S. side.

Q: At whose initiative did this discussion leading to this agreement take place?

Foreign Ministry Official 2: Prime Minister Hashimoto visited Washington in the end of April and had a meeting with President Clinton, and after that meeting they announced that they were considering a possible enhancement of dialogue on deregulation between the two countries. As for who initiated it, there was a proposal that came from the United States on this point. It is correct to say that there was a proposal that was made by the U.S. Government.

Q: The proposal was made when, today?

Foreign Ministry Official 2: The proposal to consider an enhancement of dialogue was made just before the Prime Minister came to Washington, so it was at the end of April. After that Summit Meeting, we started working-level discussions. We had two consultations in Tokyo; people from the USTR, the Justice Department, and the Department of Commerce came to Tokyo, and after those two consultations we have been coming very close to the point of agreement. It was just around the time we left Tokyo that we reached the conclusion of the Joint Statement.

Q: What are the issues that Japan might raise in the deregulation talks?

Foreign Ministry Official 2: We have not decided exactly what the issues are that we might raise. However, in the existing deregulation working group we have raised a couple of issues, like Ship America-type of policies that could lead to rather protectionist practices. Also, there have been questions raised from the Japanese side regarding telecommunications. There has been some concern raised by some of the Japanese ministries about the delay of extending accreditation of some of the Japanese companies like NTT and KDD for international operations in the United States. It is about licensing.

Q: Another question. You mentioned that the two leaders agreed that it was a good thing that trade had now been taken off the front page, but the two sides seem to be talking off different talking points, because at the White House briefing just a couple of hours ago, trade was a very significant issue. U.S. officials still expressed concern about the level of Japanese trade surplus, so it clearly is not off the U.S. radar. Prior to the Summit, Japanese officials were saying it would not be a major issue and it has become one. What accounts for the difference of approach?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: What we are saying is that it is not like the situation a year or two ago when the trade issue was really very vigorous, like the auto issue as you know, and the situation has calmed down since then. Obviously, trade is always a very important issue between developed nations. We have not denied that. That is the context, and it depends on how you look at things, but we are talking about the same things.

Q: Mr. Clinton said that he would like to see results within one year, and I would like to know how the Japanese view that.

Foreign Ministry Official 2: From the Japanese Government viewpoint, deregulation is a continuing process. Prime Minister Hashimoto's Cabinet has been working harder than ever in promoting deregulation but we do not have any time limit or anything like that set. In today's Joint Statement we have some reference to having high-level meetings at least once a year, so it is certain that we will be having a high-level meeting within the next year between the Deputy Foreign Minister and the Deputy USTR. As for the actual achievements or results after one year, it is a little hard to judge at this point.

Q: What sort of advice do you hope to get from the United States? Will this advice resemble the kind of things which in the past have been rejected as meddling in Japanese domestic politics?

Foreign Ministry Official 2: You are asking us what kind of specific advice we expect from the United States?

Q: You said that it would be appropriate for a country with the success in deregulation of the United States to give advice, and when the United States has given advice to the United States before, it has not been entirely welcome.

Foreign Ministry Official 2: Our way of thinking is that in promoting deregulation in our society, it is important to pay attention to both competition inside Japan and competition vis-a-vis foreign countries. There is the very important issue of narrowing the gap between domestic prices and foreign prices. What I am talking about is that some of the imported products may be sold higher in Japan because of the high price of land and things like that, so we think that having foreign companies' perspectives in Japan in promoting deregulation has some merits. We have been doing that and we will continue to do it. We think that this enhanced initiative will serve this purpose.
Issues regarding development in Africa and the Middle East peace process
Q: President Clinton spoke about aid to Jordan and development in Africa before coming to the Denver Summit. How does Japan feel about development in Africa and helping the peace process in the Middle East?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: Your question has nothing to do with the actual talks, but these are two issues which are of great importance. In fact, we have undertaken some initiatives regarding development in Africa. Our proposal in the United Nations has changed the nature of, for instance, the objective of assistance. In the old days, people used to talk about contributions in terms of the money which was sent, for example, to African countries, but we are saying that now in order to be effective you have to have targets. For example, you set a specific target for the infant mortality rate; or you set a target for the number of schools to be established in certain communities and areas. We are looking for actual results to be achieved, and to target this is a new approach we have been proposing. We are working very hard to ensure that this approach gains international support. We are now becoming one of the largest donors -- I do not have the figures with me -- to Africa, and we are also organizing many seminars and symposiums inviting leaders from Africa, particularly those in charge of economic development so that some of the experiences of Asia can be transferred in some way. We hope to host another meeting of this sort next year called TICAD II. Regarding the Middle East peace process, obviously this is a critical issue which the whole international community is concerned about, and we have been making efforts, along with other members of the international community, in trying to foster an environment conducive to the negotiations, for instance by extending assistance to Palestinians and also to countries surrounding the conflict, like Jordan. We have provided quite a lot of assistance to Jordan, Syria and other countries. We cooperate fully, and we have a very close dialogue with the United States of America and other countries in the region like Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and Israel, of course. This is something that we attach great importance to.
Issues regarding China
Q: I have a question about China. You mentioned just now that the two leaders agreed to integrate China into international institutions. What kind of institutions? Have they set any timetable for China to join the WTO?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: Obviously, the WTO is something that leaders have in mind. Both governments, Japan and the United States of America, consider it important that the integration of China takes place as early as possible, but of course negotiations are still going on, and we have not set a timetable as such.
Trade surplus issues
Q: You characterize the Prime Minister as saying financial markets had reacted very calmly to the Japanese trade surplus. I am a bit confused. I thought that the surplus has indeed helped to strengthen the yen over a matter of weeks. This has been to the point where some Japanese officials have attempted to talk the yen back down. Could you maybe elaborate on the context in which Prime Minister Hashimoto made that remark?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: I see. I perhaps wasn't very clear in my explanation and I do apologize. I meant, in response to the figures released yesterday, that's all.
Russian Federation
Q: The discussion about Russia. Did the President or the Secretary of State make any specific request of Japan regarding the issue of the ongoing participation of Russia in these meetings, either in terms of the formulations of the final communique or anything outside of that?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: Well, there is an agreement already as to the manner of conducting the Summit of the Eight. Nothing really, then. We just confirmed that we were pleased that Russia has a greater role to play now, but there are some issues which are more effectively handled amongst the Seven.

Q: Did you have any difficulty in negotiating the arrangement of this bilateral meeting? I mean, why did they announce on Monday that the President was meeting some of the leaders when at that time the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hashimoto had not been fixed yet? Why did it take a longer time to arrange the bilateral meeting this time? Another question is that the two leaders started the bilateral meeting with security matters. Does this mean that security is the most critical issue between the two countries right now?

Foreign Ministry Official 1: First of all, President Clinton obviously has a very busy schedule in Denver, and he has been coordinating, I'm sure, his schedule. I really don't know why this decision was made at such a late stage in the preparations, but we had a very good meeting between the leaders. We originally only planned the meeting for thirty minutes but it went on and on for one hour and ten minutes. They were relaxed. Good friends, good atmosphere. So there is no point in reading into this sort of thing. On the security issue, it is one of the things which is obviously very important in the minds of the Prime Minister and the President, but the order really doesn't matter that much, except that usually people tend to discuss the bilateral issues first, then go into international issues. It's normal practice. I wouldn't read too much into this sort of thing. Thank you very much.

Official of the International Press Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Thank you very much, and thank you all very much for coming. I have an announcement to make. There will be several press conferences by the Japanese delegation here tomorrow. The first one begins at 10:00 by the Spokesman for the Prime Minister of Japan regarding Japan's strategic position at the Denver Summit of the Eight, so please be back here at 10:00 tomorrow morning. Thank you very much for coming.

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