Press Conferences

Odanaka, Mainichi Shimbun: Today, the photographs on the current status of the development of the gas fields on the Chinese side of the East China Sea on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website were renewed. Could you give us an outline of what has changed by this renewal, and also explain what the Japanese Government is doing about the change? My understanding is that there are flares. Could you tell us how many more stacks are now flaring, and how many are now doing so including those already confirmed?

Foreign Press Secretary Kawamura: Of the oil and gas platforms that China has installed on the East China Sea, we confirmed that flares, in other words, flames, were occurring at two new places, the 11th and 12th structures. The 11th structure is approximately 60 km from the Japan-China geographical equidistance line between Japan and China, and the 12th structure is approximately 67 km from the equidistance line. There are now 12 structures in this gas field where flaring has been confirmed, including the two structures confirmed this time.
Before them, flares have been confirmed at the Pinghu oil and gas field, the Kashi gas field, and the Bajiaoting oil field, and, among the structures installed since June 2013, the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and the most recent 11th and 12th structures. 
With regard to the Japanese response, the Government of Japan immediately lodged a protest to the Chinese side through diplomatic channels. Specifically, after confirming the flares, we lodged a protest against the Chinese side at the director-general level. Under the circumstances pending maritime boundary delimitation between Japan and China in the East China Sea, it is extremely regrettable that China is advancing unilateral development in these waters despite repeated protests from the Government of Japan. We lodged a protest with the Chinese side at the director-general level based on this position.
To date, Japan has strongly requested the Chinese side to stop unilateral development activities whenever related developments on the Chinese side have been detected. It is our intention to continue making strong requests to the Chinese side. 
At the Japan-China Summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Li Keqiang in November last year, the two leaders agreed to aim at resuming the consultations based on the "2008 Agreement." We intend to continue strongly requesting the Chinese side to quickly resume the consultations between Japan and China regarding the conclusion of an international agreement based on the "2008 Agreement" so that the Agreement can be implemented quickly.

Sakai, Nikkei Shimbun: I believe that the process was that a high-level consultation on maritime affairs was conducted in Hiroshima as the result of the Summit Meeting, and that this was going to be held once more. Please tell us the status of the arrangements for this, and also the effect of the most recent case on the resumption of the consultations and the Japan-China Summit Meeting that is scheduled to be held within this year. Also, what is the view of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the intent of the Chinese side this time? In other words, please explain if you have an analysis of the intentions of China regarding the fact that it is moving forward with the development at the stage where negotiations are going to be reopened.

Foreign Press Secretary Kawamura: As you stated, we held a Japan-China High-Level Consultation on Maritime Affairs on September 14 and 15 in Hiroshima, where we conducted a candid exchange of views on the "2008 Agreement" as well. There is no change in the Japanese position to continue strongly requesting the Chinese side to quickly resume the consultations regarding the conclusion of the international agreement based on the "2008 Agreement" and quickly implement the "Agreement," and we intend to continue making this request. The specific dates for the next round of consultation have yet to be determined, so we intend to continue coordinating with the Chinese side.  
As for your question about the impact of this case on the Japan-China-ROK Summit Meeting, the next Japan-China-ROK Summit Meeting will be held in Japan and is currently being coordinated. On the other hand, regarding this matter of gas field development, we lodged a strong protest with the Chinese side since the problem was confirmed at this point, and it is our intent to continue standing by the Japanese position that I just explained and strongly seek to resume the consultations toward the conclusion of an international agreement based on the "2008 Agreement."

Now, as for your question about the "intent" of the Chinese side, to speak of the interpretation of the fact that there is flaring, it is highly possible that production is going on since it means that excess gas extracted from under the seabed is being burnt. This is an objective analysis, and I will refrain from commenting on what the specific intentions of the Chinese side are. It goes without saying that when we confirmed the flaring at the 11th and 12th structures and we protested to the Chinese side on that basis, there was a certain response from the Chinese side. However, I wish to refrain from discussing how they responded.

Okuma, Kyodo News: I understand that the Japan-Russia Strategic Dialogue will begin on October 13, and I think that negotiations on the Northern Territories will begin in full with this. Could you tell us at this point what kind of outcome you are hoping for? Also, as the confrontation between the United States and Russia has currently deepened regarding the situation in Syria, could you tell us what kind of effect this has on the negotiations between Japan and Russia or on building the relationship?

Foreign Press Secretary Kawamura: The Japan-Russia Strategic Dialogue scheduled to begin on October 13 is to be conducted between Mr. Shinsuke Sugiyama, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Vladimir Gennadievich Titov, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. The agenda items are issues of strategic interest to both Japan and Russia, urgent international issues, and bilateral matters. Of course, the situation in Syria and the situation in North Korea should be coming up. As for bilateral matters,  the matter of concluding a Japan-Russia Peace Treaty, and the cooperation plan between Japan and Russia on various economic matters, the eight-point cooperation plan, will be taken up as well.
However, the purpose of this meeting is to conduct a strategic dialogue from a broad perspective, and it is not a negotiation on the conclusion of a peace treaty, so we are not expecting to conduct an in-depth exchange in this forum. I believe that the same thing can be said for the eight-point cooperation plan as well. We are not expecting to have a detailed, in-depth debate.
Japan's basic position concerning the Japan-Russia Peace Treaty is that we will conduct negotiations under the basic policy of solving the issue of the attribution of the Four Northern Islands and concluding a peace treaty, and there is no change to this.

Shimotsukasa, Asahi Shimbun: I have a question about the Paris Agreement. It has become certain that the Paris Agreement will enter into force before Japan has ratified it. It is expected that Japan is unlikely to be able to take part in the decision-making at the Conference of the Parties to the Paris Agreement in Marrakech. It has been pointed out that it represents the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' lack of foresight and judgment. Please give us your understanding on this point, as well as the future outlook.

Foreign Press Secretary Kawamura: As for the current situation, when the Paris Agreement enters into force on November 4, the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, whose members consist of the countries that have ratified the Paris Agreement, will be convened.
You mentioned lack of foresight and judgment, but the circumstances are that the negotiations to formulate the implementation guidelines for the Paris Agreement already began before the Meeting of the Parties and have been conducted to date. The role of these negotiations is to create the guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, and Japan has participated in this. The fact of the matter is that these negotiations have been conducted with the participation of all the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is under consideration to continue the negotiations for the creation of the implementation guidelines in that forum even after the Paris Agreement itself goes into force.
That said, there is no denying that it is important for Japan to conclude ratification procedures for the Paris Agreement as soon as possible and participate in the negotiations in a convincing manner in order to better reflect Japanese views in the various discussions at the upcoming COP 22. As Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said himself, the government intends to put fullest efforts into gaining approval from the National Diet concerning the Paris Agreement as soon as possible.