Press Conferences

Mr. Mizushima: Good afternoon. Thank you for coming to the press conference. Today I have one item at the top. That is on the 5th meeting of the India-Japan-United States Trilateral Dialogue. The 5th meeting of the India-Japan-United States Trilateral Dialogue will be held in Tokyo on November 15. From Japan, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense will participate in the Dialogue, including Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu, Deputy Vice-Minister for Foreign Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and from India, officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, including Mr. Gautam Bambawale, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs will attend the meeting. And from the US side, the officials from the Department of State and Department of Defense will participate in the Dialogue, including Ms. Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary of States for South and Central Asia. The purpose of the Trilateral Dialogue is to deepen strategic partnership among three countries which share fundamental values through exchanging views in candid manner on common concerns such as regional situations and global issues. In this meeting, on top of the previous four meetings, three countries will exchange their views on various issues, such as maritime security and regional situations. That is it. I’m happy to take questions if you have any.

Q: I want to ask about the Philippines, the Japanese aid to the Philippines. I understand that in addition to the current assistance from the Government, Japan is now going to send 1,000 SDF troops to the Philippines, can you say that this is in some way part of Japan’s strategy to show its role in the region and to the world?

Mr. Mizushima: OK. Thank you for your question. We really are concerned about the situation in the Philippines, and we extend our condolences to the victims of the typhoon. We already extended some assistance through emergency grant aid, and are also going to provide some relief materials that are needed by the people who are affected. We also dispatched the Japanese Self Defense Forces personnel. About fifty JSDF personnel are in Manila now, and twenty personnel of the medical unit out of those fifty JSDF personnel are moving to Cebu today to start medical activities. The cargo plane KC767 of JSDF already departed to the Philippines and transported medical equipment to Cebu yesterday. In addition, we announced that about 1000 JSDF personnel would be dispatched to mainly be engaged in transportation activities. These assistances are part of our emergency disaster relief efforts when a serious disaster occurs, and we expect to help the Philippine side to manage this severe situation.

Q:Have other disaster relief team personnel started operations yet in the affected areas?

Mr. Mizushima: Three of the JICA emergency medical team arrived in Tacloban in the afternoon of 12th, then they are now trying to secure the places for their medical activities in close coordination with the Philippine authority. 22 other members of the team arrived in Ormock, Leyte Island, yesterday morning, and they are planning to move on to Tacloban.