Press Conferences

Yomiuri Shimbun, Oyabu: I would like to ask about the series of G20 meetings being held in Italy. Outcome documents have been issued on matters such as food security and financing for sustainable development for developing countries. Please tell us your assessment of the series of meetings.

Mr. YOSHIDA Tomoyuki, Press Secretary: There are three major groups of G20 meetings being held in Italy: the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, a joint session of foreign and development ministers, and a Development Ministers’ Meeting. A Declaration and Communiqué were agreed upon and issued for the Foreign Ministers’ and Development Ministers’ Meeting and the Development Ministers’ Meeting respectively.

To begin, in regard to my overall assessment of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and other meetings, firstly there were lively discussions on the themes of multilateralism and global governance during the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. During the session, discussions were held on ideal multilateralism and global governance on the themes of healthcare, climate change, sustainable development, and trade and investment. In addition to the G20 members, guest countries and international organizations also participated.

There was emphasis on the necessity of G20 cooperation under multilateralism in order to achieve a better recovery from the novel coronavirus crisis. Foreign Minister Motegi explained Japan’s initiatives on the most important matter of novel coronavirus countermeasures and climate change, and called on the G20 members to strengthen initiatives.

During this session, Foreign Minister Motegi raised the necessity of advancing specific discussions regarding strengthening transparency in financing for development as part of ideal global governance, creating high standards and multilateral rules on free and fair trade, and promoting negotiations on matters such as ecommerce under the Osaka Track in regard to the digital economy, which was launched at the G20 Osaka Summit in 2019 hosted by Japan. Discussions were held on this in the sessions, and the Declaration and Communiqué mention the points agreed upon by the G20 members.

The G20 is a forum with participation by the world’s majoreconomies, and is also characterized by the participation by countries with extremely diverse viewpoints. It is not easy to see consensus on views in such a forum. I believe that the G20 has characteristics different from a framework such as the G7 on that point.

Amidst this, I believe that it was a very major outcome that points of consensus were found through the G20 cooperation on the themes I just mentioned, and specific initiatives were incorporated into the Declaration and Communiqué.

The G20 Summit will be held in October in Rome. Japan will continue to lead discussions on such themes in cooperation with related countries.

Yomiuri Shimbun, Oyabu: As you just stated, unlike the G7, the G20 meetings also mix in countries that do not necessarily have the same values on politics. That would be significant for the discussions this time on climate change and novel coronavirus countermeasures. What level of points of consensus do you feel were found this time on global-scale issues such as climate change and the novel coronavirus?

Press Secretary Yoshida: The G20 is participated in by countries with diverse positions. There is participation by countries with various political systems, as well as different values, which I mentioned, and approaches.

But at the same time, because the G20 is a group launched due to the 2008 global financial crisis, it can be said that it is made up of countries that have a responsibility for managing the global economy. I just mentioned several areas where there was consensus on views. Documents such as the Communiqué mention that discussions will be deepened on climate change, novel coronavirus countermeasures, trade, and transparency in financing for development which Japan raised.

Specifically, I believe it will be necessary to further observe the future discussions on how these issues will be worked on. But I believe that it was extremely significant that we could see points of agreement that could be announced publicly on efforts for general starting points.

Asahi Shimbun, Abe: PALM9 will be held on July 2. If we look at the MOFA website, it says that the Pacific island countries (PICs) are important countries for Japan, and they support Japan’s positions in the international community.

Can you please tell us again why these PICs are considered important for Japan? Also, what advantages for Japanese diplomacy are there from strengthening relations with such island countries?

Press Secretary Yoshida: PALM9 will be held on July 2.

PALM has been held every three years in Japan since 1997. PALM9 was originally planned to be held in Shima City, Mie Prefecture, but will be held in the teleconference format due to the current novel coronavirus situation.

The participants are the 18 countries and regions that are members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), including two regions that are territories of France as well as Australia and New Zealand, which are developed countries.

Another example of a group of countries in a single region that Japan does work in is the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). Japan values these frameworks as symbolically showing how much we are involved in the respective regions and the importance to Japan.

As you mentioned in your question, PICs are located in a strategically important region. The region contains sea lanes between Japan and Australia, which is an important partner for Japan with which we share values including on security and the economy, as well as the PICs. Furthermore, there is the aspect that these countries are partners linked by shared values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.

Of course, Japan has historically had important connections and links to these countries and regions. They include countries that have had leaders of Japanese descent who served as heads of state. In that sense, Japan considers PALM to be a gathering of countries that we feel very close to.

Accordingly, PALM is held precisely every three years. Japan considers it to be an important diplomatic asset, and would like to further strengthen the initiative.

Asahi Shimbun, Abe: Teleconference meetings have begun to be held between the leaders of the PICs and Prime Minister Suga from yesterday. Prime Minister Suga has explained to the leaders of the PICs that preparation is being advanced taking full infection countermeasures in order to hold the Tokyo Olympic Games in a safe and secure way.

There are countries that have agreed on mutual cooperation for this, and some countries that have not. Is it the case that the countries that did not agree did not approve of Prime Minister Suga’s explanation?

Press Secretary Yoshida: Prime Minister Suga has been holding a marathon of summit meetings in the teleconference format as needed since yesterday. During the respective summit meetings, in addition to communication on holding the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games which you indicated, there is discussion on various important themes. As the meetings are being held in a marathon format, I believe that the respective meeting times are not that long. Of course, I believe the meetings firstly include exchanges on initiatives toward PALM as well as Japan’s initiatives and the various countries views on the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concerning the Indo-Pacific region and those values. I think there is also discussion on regional situations and bilateral relations with the respective countries.

The press releases issued for each country probably have similar expressions to describe the content of the exchanges during the meetings. But there will also of course be variations, with meetings conducted in line with each respective country.

In the press releases, I believe there are differences in the expressions and descriptions that indicate the results of the exchanges regarding the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. I believe that some of the press releases completely include, and some do not completely include Japan’s explanation of its views on holding safe and secure Games, the flow of the exchange with the other country, the meeting time, and the reaction of the other country.

This does not necessarily mean that approval was not received, or that the other country indicated concerns. I believe the press releases were uploaded with the presumption that the Japan side provided a precise explanation and the leader of each country listened carefully.

Asahi Shimbun, Abe: It is true that as you stated, the press releases have many similar expressions. But I am interested in the subtle differences. For example, Prime Minister Suga requested understanding and cooperation from various countries on the abductions issue, but did not request such understanding and cooperation from Prime Minister Bob Loughman of Vanuatu. The press release states that the leaders exchanged views on regional issues including North Korea. I thought it was strange that the abductions issue was not mentioned only for Vanuatu. What was the reason for this?

Press Secretary Yoshida: I have not seen the readout of the exchange with the country you mentioned, so I do not have materials with which to answer your question on the details. The press releases have various ways of expressing the content and Prime Minister Suga’s statements of the respective meetings, including of course the order in which the topics progressed, or the way of holding the exchange with the other country, such as having the meeting in a way in which several topics were discussed at once or having an exchange on each specific theme.

I do not know how the meetings were held. Based on my experience thus far, I believe that the ways the discussions progressed were of course different depending on the different ways of holding the meetings.

On the other hand, in regard to themes that Japan attaches importance to, they are precisely brought up with the other country, or they are confirmed at a different opportunity, or they are omitted from the standpoint of the meeting time if the other country has already responded.

I do not have explanatory materials on the meetings this time. Although the descriptions of the expressions of course show the meeting outline as accurately as possible, I believe it is not the case that the press releases contain such differences in wording for reasons such as differences in importance of themes, not being able to bring up some themes, or having different opinions.

Kyodo News, Nakata: I would like to ask about Hong Kong. As of today, one year has passed since the entry into force of the Hong Kong National Security Law. In the time since then, we have seen actions contrary to fundamental values including freedom of expression and freedom of the press. How does the Government of Japan perceive thedevelopments in Hong Kong in the past year and the implementation of the National Security Law?

Press Secretary Yoshida: As you pointed out, it has been exactly one year since the Hong Kong National Security Law was ultimately enacted and entered into force on June 30 after deliberations in China’s National People’s Congress from May to June 2020.

In the year since then, many people have been arrested, including leaders of democratic activities in Hong Kong with names we have become very familiar with such as Apple Daily owner Jimmy Lai and Agnes Chow who has connections to Japan, as well as people related to the media and members of the Legislative Council. Recently from May to June, the Apple Daily was pushed into ceasing publication as a result of the freezing of assets of people related to the newspaper and its related company as well as the arrest of its leaders. That is my recognition looking back at the past year.

The Government of Japan has issued “Statements by Minister for Foreign Affairs MOTEGI Toshimitsu” and “Statements by Press Secretary YOSHIDA Tomoyuki” at each turning point in the situation concerning Hong Kong. We have also spoken up together with partner countries that share our concerns at important Summit Meetings and Foreign Ministers’ Meetings including the recent Japan-U.S. Summit meeting, as well as the G7 Summit.

Continuing on from the United Nations Human Rights Council Session held in October 2020, Japan participated as the only Asian country in the joint statement on the human rights situation in China at the recent session of the Human Rights Council, joining the group expressing serious concerns about the situation in Hong Kong.

Also, in terms of communication with China, we have taken every opportunity, including Japan-China Summit Meetings and Japan-China Foreign Ministers’ Meetings, to directly convey Japan’s views and concerns to Chinese leaders.

Despite the series of responses by Japan and the strong concerns of the international community, the series of actions I described at the beginning have been repeatedly occurring. This undermines confidence in the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework as provided for in the Hong Kong Basic Law and the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration which have supported Hong Kong’s prosperity, and also represents a major setback for the high degree of autonomy in Hong Kong as well as freedom of the press and speech. The Government of Japan’s grave concern about this is further growing.

It is the long-standing position of Japan to attach great importance to upholding the free and open system which Hong Kong has been enjoying and the democratic and stable development of Hong Kong under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework. We will closely cooperate with the international community and continue to persistently and strongly urge China about this.

NHK, Watanabe: I would like to change the subject. The United States, Ukraine, and NATO member states are conducting a large-scale military exercise in the Black Sea. I believe this is being conducted based on the position of not recognizing the annexation of Crimea. In relation to this, Russia is conducting a military exercise in the Crimean Peninsula. Even if this situation does not result in a direct military clash, both sides are conducting military exercises with opposing stances. How does the Government of Japan view this situation? Please tell us Japan’s current stance on the dispute with Europe and the United States on one side with antagonistic relations with Russia in the Black Sea, which can be said to be Russia’s throat.

Press Secretary Yoshida: The incident you asked about began when Russia took warning actions against a U.K. warship navigating in the Black Sea in the vicinity of Ukraine. Various communication has been conducted concerning the military exercises and other such matters between Europe, particularly the United Kingdom, and Russia as well as Ukraine which is a party concerned. I believe you are asking about that.

From the perspective of peace and stability in Europe, Japan is following this situation with interest, and conducting communication with the various countries.

I believe that both sides probably do not wish for tensions to grow in this situation. At the present point, the claims and statements being made by both sides have slight differences. I believe I must refrain from making a definitive comment about this on behalf of Japan, which is a third-party country.

The situation concerning this region will unmistakably continue to be a major matter of interest for the international community. The Government of Japan will continue to follow this situation from that standpoint.

NHK, Watanabe: I would like to ask about North Korea. There are reports through local media regarding voices of concern about General Secretary Kim Jong-un’s health. I have also heard various information leaking from North Korea now, such as that officials were punished after a great crisis occurred concerning novel coronavirus countermeasures. I believe that North Korea is a country subject to extremely important consideration by Japan, including on the abductions issue. At the present point, to what extent does Japan currently grasp the domestic situation in North Korea?

Press Secretary Yoshida: I believe your question is about official reports in North Korea regarding Chairman Kim’s emaciated looks. I believe you are also asking about a report by the Korean Central News Agency made today or yesterday. The report stated that officials concerned were punished due to the occurrence of what Chairman Kim called, at a Politburo meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, a great crisis that has put the safety of the nation and people of North Korea in great danger concerning measures responding to a global health crisis, which I believe probably referred to the novel coronavirus.

It goes without saying that we are following the details of the movements in North Korea, and always conducting information gathering and analysis with great interest. On the other hand, in terms of assessment and evaluation, because the respective incidents have not been disclosed, I would like to refrain from stating the Government of Japan’s view or what information we have grasped. I believe we need to continue to monitor the movements concerning North Korea with a high level of sensitivity.

Kyodo News, Nakata: In relation to the previous question, the novel coronavirus was raised amidst the great crisis in North Korea. North Korea is part of COVAX. What is Japan’s view on providing vaccines to North Korea through COVAX if novel coronavirus infections spread in North Korea?

Press Secretary Yoshida: Firstly, speaking in principle from a general standpoint, in regard to the Government of Japan’s novel coronavirus countermeasures, particularly its supply and provision of vaccines around the world, the Government of Japan’s basic view is that it is essential to ensure that people around the world have equitable access to effective, safe vaccines based on multilateralism such as through the COVAX Facility.

For this, I believe that in terms of the COVAX Facility grasping what needs there are and what countries to provide vaccines to, considerations should be conducted within COVAX while making comprehensive decisions on matters such as vaccine needs and supply possibility based on infection conditions around the world and in respective participating countries and regions.

Amidst this, it is my understanding that discussions are not being conducted on which countries to particularly keep in mind and which countries should be ineligible. At the present point, I believe that the COVAX Facility has still not definitely decided which countries and regions to send vaccines to, and how. We will continue to monitor the situation.