Press Conferences

Mr. Mizushima: Good afternoon. Thank you for coming. Today I have one item at the top, which is about CEAPAD (Conference on cooperation among East Asian countries for Palestinian Development) Private Sector Promotion Meeting.
The Government of Japan, together with the Palestinian Authority, will host the CEAPAD Private Sector Promotion Meeting in Tokyo on December 2nd and 3rd. In this meeting, participants will discuss ways to help Palestine achieve economic independence, centering on strengthening its private sector, while drawing on the economic development expertise of the public and private sectors in East Asia.
This meeting will be attended by Mr. Muhammad Abu Ramadan, Palestinian Minister of State for Planning Affairs, as well as representatives from the public and private sectors of Palestine and countries in East Asia, US Government officials, representatives of international organizations, etc. The meeting will be co-chaired by Minister Ramadan and Mr. Yutaka Iimura, Special Envoy of the Government of Japan for the Middle East.
And just for your reference, I would like to touch upon briefly what the CEAPAD (Conference on cooperation among East Asian countries for Palestinian Development) is. CEAPAD was established through the initiative of the Government of Japan as an international conference for discussing approaches for supporting Palestine that mobilize East Asia’s expertise and experience in resources and economic development. The first ministerial-level CEAPAD was held in Tokyo on February 13 and 14 this year. Based on the joint statement from that conference, an Aid Coordination Meeting was held in Bangkok in September, and following on from that, this Private Sector Promotion Meeting will be held. Based on the outcomes of both meetings, the second ministerial-level CEAPAD is scheduled to be held in Indonesia next year.

Q: Good afternoon. We’re from China Central Television. And the questions we’re going to ask is about Air Defense Identification Zone. The first one is, Japan plans to extend its Air Defense Identification Zone to Ogasawara Islands, and I wonder why Japan made this decision.

Mr. Mizushima: I am not aware that the Government of Japan has decided yet whether or not to expand the Air Defense Identification Zone to the Ogasawara area. So I am not in a position to make any comment on that.

Q: Okay. Here comes the second one. Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone was created originally by the United States, and Japan expanded the Air Defense Zones several times afterwards, further into East China Sea, to 130 kilometers from the coast of mainland China, at its closest point. And I wonder if Japan counsulted(?) with China before its expansion, and was Japan’s expansion a unilateral move?

Mr. Mizushima: Regarding your question, I am not aware of the history and the background of how we did expand. We did expand Air Defense Identification Zone in the past. But what I understand was that it was done under the Japanese law, and it was done by the Ministry of Defense, in the past, Defense Agency. So, I would like to refer you to the Ministry of Defense about that question.

Q: The Japanese Government claims China’s newly-established Air Defense Identification Zone was a unilateral move. So, I wonder why Japan thought so.

Mr. Mizushima: Well, I think, this time, China’s establishment of such zone and the obliging its own rules within the zone are profoundly dangerous acts that unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea, which escalates the situation, and that may cause unintended consequences in the East China Sea. So that is why we strongly expressed deep concern about the act.

Q: And what is the status quo on the East China Sea?

Mr. Mizushima: Well, actually, what the Chinese government announced this time was not only to establish the Air Defense Identification Zone, but it requested that all the flights be obliged to the Chinese rules. So I think that is not the practice which the international society has been following. And that will unduly infringe the freedom of flight in international air space.

Q: But I’m sure Chinese Foreign Minister also has an answer for that, because China’s newly-established Air Defense Zone doesn’t affect civilian airplanes’ flight freedom, so would you respond to that?

Mr. Mizushima: It is not concerned only with the civilian aircrafts. What the Chinese Government announcement means is that it will cover all the aircrafts which will fly in the Air Defense Identification Zone that China newly established. And also, the Chinese Government obliged all those aircrafts to obey the Chinese rules. And also, if those airplanes do not follow the instruction of the Chinese authority, then the Chinese military may resort to some defensive emergency measures. And I don’t think that follows the international practice.

Q: My name’s Alastair Wanklyn, from Fox News, America. In the reaction of the US Defense Secretary to China’s Air Defense Identification Zone, he urged Beijing not to enact its threat. Then, when the two US bombers flew over the Senkaku Islands, China did nothing. Does the Japanese Government have any reaction to that non-action by the Chinese side?

Mr. Mizushima: I’m not making any comments on the individual American military action. I am aware that China did not react physically to those flights. But we would like to continue to monitor or follow what is going to happen in the future. Again, as our Government, our Ministers have mentioned many times, we strongly request the Chinese Government to revoke all those measures which might endanger the peace and stability of this region.