Press Conferences

Yomiuri Shimbun, OYABU: I would like to ask about the Aegis Ashore system. Defense Minister Kono announced that deployment would be suspended in both Akita and Yamaguchi prefectures. Can you please tell us MOFA’s reaction to matters such as the effect on relations with the United States?

Mr. OHTAKA Masato, Press Secretary: Everyone basically believes that there will be no change to the Japan-U.S. Alliance and the various forms of close cooperation that we conduct, particularly for defense.

Various discussions, including at the National Security Council, will of course be held going forward. It would not be appropriate for me to speculate at this point about the outcomes of these discussions, so I would like to refrain from commenting about that. In any event, the close Japan-U.S. Alliance and our cooperative relations are extremely strong now, and I basically do not believe that there will be any effects on that.