Press Conferences

Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs: The Development Cooperation Charter was decided at today’s Cabinet meeting. Under the new charter, we intend to strengthen coordination with private sector while supporting “high-quality growth” in developing countries in order to strive to eradicate poverty, alongside supporting the sharing of universal values, such as the rule of law.

Under the new charter we intend to promote more strategic development cooperation, and make a greater contribution to the peace, stability and prosperity of the international community.

Fujikawa, TV Asahi: I would like to ask about the Development Cooperation Charter. This time, support for the military has become partially possible. How do you view the concerns that goods and capital may be appropriated or diverted for military purposes, and what measures for preventing such diversions are being considered specifically?

Minister Kishida: To begin with, the new charter continues to adhere to the principle of avoiding the use of development cooperation for military purposes or fostering international disputes. Supporting for military purposes through development cooperation will not take place in the future either. It will not happen that something that could not be done because of the confliction with this principle become possible as a result of this new charter. That is something I would like to confirm.

Cooperation with the military or military personnel has been taking place if the activities have non-military objectives, including the purposes of civil government and disaster relief. We have a track record of these cases. In recent years the military has come to play important roles in non-military activities, such as post-conflict reconstruction and restoration, and disaster relief. Based on that the policy of cooperating with the military and military personnel on non-military objectives, which was not adequately clarified up to now, has been clarified afresh in the new charter. This is the situation. I intend to rigorously explain this point: things have not changed in the way you suggested.

Kamide, Freelance: I would like to ask about two points. First, it has been reported that a government official commented with regards to the issue of verification and its response to the hostage incident, “As it is related to the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets, we are uncertain to what extent the verification can be clarified” after the release of the photograph of the regrettable murder of Mr. Kenji Goto. But since the enforcement of the Act on the Protection of Specially Designated Secrets in December of last year, I do not remember any specific matters has come out in relation to this Act. Does this Act actually have any connection with the verification of the hostages?

Minister Kishida: First of all, with regards to the murder of the Japanese hostages, the Government of Japan did everything it could to secure their release, utilizing all possible routes and channels. I feel an extremely deep sense of regret about the fact that the incident eventually came to such an end. I think the verification is an important issue. The Government will be to take steps to thoroughly verify with in the government. I understand that the first meeting of the verification committee will be held today in the Prime Minister’s Office.

In this way, I think that it is important to first complete the verification within the Government. My understanding is that discussions on whether to make public the details of the verification will be held later, but that nothing has been decided at the current time.

Also, with regards to specially designated secrets, I think it is possible that specially designated secrets are contained within such an incident, but I will have to refrain from commenting on whether or not there are such secrets in individual and specific matters so as not to engage in speculation of the content of the incident.

Kamide, Freelance: My second question concerns the restriction of travel to Syria by a freelance journalist and the order for him to return his passport. This sort of measure does not seem to be taken in Europe and the United States. On the one hand, this could be said as indicating that Japan gives higher priority to protecting lives than Europe or the United States, but on the other hand, it might be thought to show the weakness of its ability to respond.

This is one point. The Asahi Shimbun which reported from the northern part of Syria at the end of January seemed to be OK. I would like to ask the reason of these different responses and whether you judged it because it was difficult for a freelancer in such. May I ask you about this?

Minister Kishida: First, touching on the comparison with Europe and the United States, each respective country has their own individual circumstances and also each of their respective societies react to an incident in different ways. Therefore, I think it is difficult to simply compare with these countries. With regards to the order to return a passport, first there are specific circumstances in terms of the recent situation in Syria and the situation in the region where the ISIL is active. The two Japanese nationals were captured and have just been murdered by the ISIL. Moreover, the ISIL has expressed its intention to continue to murder Japanese nationals. So there exist special circumstances.

The person who was ordered to return his passport had clearly indicated his intention to enter Syria. Regardless of the intentions of the person in question, once the person was taken hostage by the ISIL or any other extremist organization, the life of the person would be highly likely to be in danger. Also, the situation is that it would be difficult to ensure that the person will not travel to Syria once the person has left Japan. The current response was taken while considering such various situations.

You asked about the comparison with the case of the Asahi Shimbun the other day. Immediately before this step was taken, the extremely tragic incident of the murder of two Japanese nationals occurred and moreover, a warning that it would continue to murder Japanese nationals has been made. The response this time was taken in the context of such special circumstances. This case is different from previous ones.

In any case, such a matter relates to freedom of travel and freedom of speech and the press that are protected by the Constitution, and so this sort of order must be carefully examined. My understanding is that each case should be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.

Matsumoto, Jiji Press: I would like to ask about the Development Cooperation Charter.

This concerns the first question. If development cooperation for non-military purposes was being implemented up to now, what is the purpose of deliberately clarifying that area in this new charter? Also, you are emphasizing that development cooperation will be limited to non-military objectives, but could you explain specifically how transparency will be ensured in that regard?

Minister Kishida: I have touched a little on the reason earlier why the new charter clarifies this area. Currently there exist a number of cases in which the military performs important roles that have non-military objective such as disaster relief and post-conflict reconstruction and restoration. It is possible to see such examples in close, including the international support to the typhoon disaster in the Philippines.

Though the military contributed in such cases, the objectives were entirely non-military, such as disaster relief. Therefore Japan has thought it must make a firm contribution and it has in fact taken measures. That is what has taken place up to now.

In this way, there is the growing number recently of such cases in relation to the military with the objectives of non-military such as disaster relief. Therefore we think it is very important to clarify the way of thinking or standards regarding it in the charter. It was based on this recognition that this area was included in the new charter. That is the situation.

Those are my thoughts regarding the reason.

Matsumoto, Jiji Press: How will the issue of transparency be ensured, specifically?

Minister Kishida: Well, I think the fact that this area has been better clarified is in itself one positive step toward transparency. Furthermore, in managing the charter, it will be managed so that citizens fully understand it. This is very important, I believe.

In any event, the essential principle has not changed from what existed up to now, in any way. However, in reality, we have to firmly consider how the military is involved in cases with non-military objectives. Under these circumstances, I believe that it is important to secure understanding from citizens and, as you say, to make efforts to boost transparency.

Muramatsu, Asahi Shimbun: I would like to ask about two points relating to the order to return a passport.

The first point is that that I heard that this order is a measure that applies Article 19 of the Passport Act. This is the first ever application of Article 19 since this Act was enacted in 1951. So my first question is, when this order was issued, how did you consider the fact that this article had never before been applied?

Secondly, if you know, can you tell us whether or not you asked for an advice such as a judgment of the Cabinet Legislation Bureau when taking the decision to implement this order?

I would like to ask about these two points.

Minister Kishida: Concerning your first question, as I have previously stated, while such a case must be carefully considered in view of its relationship with the freedom to travel as in the Constitution and others, we also recognize that such a case must be carefully and specifically considered for each case.

We need to consider special circumstances such as the recent situation in Syria recently. Two Japanese nationals were killed just recently, and ISIL publicly announced that it would murder Japanese people. Then, amid such a condition, we considered various circumstances specifically such as which area these people are going to enter before we made the decision. We have firmly discussed and considered specific details including such various circumstances and then made a judgment to issue the order to return a passport for the first time.

Needless to say, the judgment was not made by the Foreign Ministry alone. The judgment was made on the basis of careful discussion by the entire Government, centering on the Prime Minister’s Office.

Nakagawa, Yomiuri Shimbun: In connection with the Development Cooperation Charter, you talked about the idea of supporting high-quality growth in the international community, and I assume this refers to the high technological prowess that is a characteristic of Japan, or taking advantage of Japan’s financial power to do things that other countries are not able to do, but what sort of assistance do you have in mind? Could you be a little more specific in that regard?

Minister Kishida: By high-quality growth, as you said, I think the perspective of utilizing Japan’s high technological prowess is important. However, our contributions are by no means limited to hardware. I think Japan also can contribute by providing a range of expertise and others on the software side. I recognize that there is also probably significant potential.

In terms of a variety of technologies, expertise, and furthermore various basic values, we could also cooperate in order to entrench these things. Furthermore, the concept of the high-quality growth is not aiming growth simply by receiving assistance, but it is important for recipient countries to have a sense of participation. In other words, we will encourage them to make an effort themselves. From the outset, we should aim such cooperation that Japan and recipient countries creates a win-win relationship together.

It is possible that we will seek the high-quality growth that is a characteristic of Japan in various areas. My understanding is that we put our thoughts including all such aspects into this phrase of “high-quality growth.”

Kurihara, NHK: I will slightly change the topic. Regarding the situation in Ukraine, a four-nation summit by Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France is scheduled to be held tomorrow. In terms of Russia, Japan is also scheduled to hold a vice-ministerial-level meeting on February 12, the day after tomorrow. What do you think about the influence of the entire situation in Ukraine to Japan’s policy on Russia? Moreover, what does the Government of Japan plan to suggest to Russia in the vice-ministerial-level meeting?

Minister Kishida: First of all, regarding the situation in Ukraine, I am aware that the parties agreed to hold the four-nation summit on February 11 in Minsk, Belarus. The Government of Japan is deeply concerned by the fact that action has been escalating in the eastern part of Ukraine and many people have been victimized. While we carefully watch the situation, we also highly appreciate efforts by the relevant parties, particularly the diplomatic efforts by Germany and France, for the peaceful solution of the situation in Ukraine and wish the development of such efforts. Moreover, the Government of Japan should encourage the relevant countries to make efforts for the peaceful solution of the situation. Particularly, we consider that it would be important for Japan to encourage Russia to fulfill constructive roles. From such a perspective, I think we need to place emphasis on political dialogues with Russia.

Igarashi, Niigata Nippo: My question is related to the order to return a passport. Mr. Sugimoto returned his passport this time. Will that passport be returned to him when, for example, the international situation changes or can he re-apply for a passport and acquire his passport?

Minister Kishida: Concerning such a case, I recognize that a response must be carefully considered on a case-by-case basis. You have asked about a case where he would newly apply for his passport. I must refrain from commenting on a hypothetical question, but, as a matter of course, I think it would be not impossible to apply for a new passport. In addition, if such an application is made, I think we would need to carefully consider and make a decision on the basis of the specific application including specific conditions.