Press Briefing 10 December 2003

Outline of bilateral meeting between Japan and the Republic of Indonesia

Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good evening. Thank you very much for waiting. I am sorry to have kept you waiting. Today I will give you a brief outline of the bilateral meetings that were held today in Tokyo in conjunction with the Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Special Summit Meeting, which is due to start tomorrow and end the day after tomorrow. Most of the leaders have already arrived in Tokyo and therefore Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi held several bilateral meetings.

Firstly, Prime Minister Koizumi held three bilateral meetings with the leaders of the following countries: the Republic of Indonesia, the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the Kingdom of Cambodia, while Foreign Minister Kawaguchi held four bilateral meetings with her counterparts from Cambodia, the Kingdom of Thailand, Indonesia and the Union of Myanmar.

Let me give you some outline of what happened with the bilaterals, with firstly Indonesia. Prime Minister Koizumi met with President Megawati Soekarnoputri of Indonesia for about 30 minutes this afternoon. Prime Minister Koizumi appreciated President Megawati's cooperation for the success of this special commemorative summit meeting because President Megawati accepted the Japanese request to become a co-chair of the meeting. Both leaders agreed that they would try their best to bring about a successful outcome of this very special and important meeting.

Let me also give you the outline of the meeting between Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Foreign Minister Hassan. They both agreed to have a high-level political and security dialogue as well as high-level economic dialogue on bilateral issues between our two countries. They also agreed that the state of negotiation of economic partnership agreement (EPA) is still at the preliminary stage but that Japan and Indonesia would further consult each other on the mechanism of future negotiations.

Minister Kawaguchi offered Japanese support for the forthcoming general election in Indonesia, and on the issue of Aceh, Minister Kawaguchi said that Japan would like to see the emergency decree lifted as soon as possible and at the same time, Japan would appreciate the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia and also the peaceful solution of Aceh issues.

On North Korean issues, Minister Hassan explained the dispatch of a special envoy of President Megawati to Pyongyang, and both Ministers agreed to cooperate with each other to see the peaceful resolution of North Korean issues.

Outline of bilateral meeting between Japan and the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Mr. Takashima: On the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, they touched upon three topics: number one, bilateral issues, number two, the regional issues and number three, international issues.

On the bilateral issues, Prime Minister Koizumi appreciated the Vietnamese decision to waive the requirement for visas for tourists and short-term stays from Japan as of 1 January 2004, and Prime Minister Koizumi said that he expected that because of the visa waiver, the number of people visiting Viet Nam from Japan would increase.

Prime Minister Koizumi also appreciated the increase in the volume of trade between our two countries. Prime Minister Koizumi said that the recent Japan-Viet Nam Investment Agreement and other initiatives would bring about further collaboration in economic relations between Viet Nam and Japan.

On regional issues, Prime Minister Koizumi said that Japan would continue to extend its Official Development Assistance (ODA) for regional development, especially in the Mekong Delta region which includes Viet Nam, Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Myanmar among others. On international issues, the Vietnamese Prime Minister asked for Japanese cooperation on two very important international meetings taking place next year, the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and Prime Minister Koizumi promised that Japan would help Viet Nam as much as possible to bring about successful meetings on the occasion.

Outline of bilateral meeting between Japan and the Kingdom of Cambodia

Mr. Takashima: On bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen of Cambodia, they mainly touched upon bilateral issues, and also on the domestic issues of Cambodia. Prime Minister Koizumi congratulated Prime Minister Hun Sen on Cambodia's successful presidency of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) last year, and he promised that Japan would continue to assist Cambodia, especially for the needs of the Cambodian people such as the bridge built by Japanese assistance on the Mekong River and named after the Japanese word kizuna, the "relationship" or "appreciation of relationship."

On the domestic issues, Prime Minister Koizumi pledged Japanese support for the Khmer Rouge Tribunal on both manpower and finance. The Cambodian Prime Minister appreciated the Japanese cooperation.

Foreign ministers meeting between Japan and Thailand

Mr. Takashima: On the foreign ministers meetings, the meeting between the Japanese Foreign Minister and the Cambodian Foreign Minister as well as between the Japanese Foreign Minister and the Indonesian Foreign Minister do not differ very much from those between the leaders of those countries and therefore I will specifically brief you on the foreign ministers meeting between Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Surakiat Sathianthai of the Kingdom of Thailand, and also between Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Minister for Foreign Affairs U Win Aung of the Union of Myanmar.

Firstly on the Japan-Thailand foreign ministers meeting, they touched upon various issues including bilaterals as well as Myanmar issues and regional issues. On the bilateral issues, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Thailand Foreign Minister Surakiat emphasized the importance of partnership to promote further development not only in Thailand itself but also regional development, and they agreed that the two countries should have high-level political dialogue at an early date, and also a dialogue between the think tanks of both countries would be desirable.

On Myanmar issues, both foreign ministers agreed that they would cooperate with each other to encourage the Myanmar Government to further democratize its nation and promote national reconciliation. They exchanged their views on the Myanmar situation and Foreign Minister Kawaguchi emphasized the importance of the participation of all parties for the process of democratization and national reconciliation in that country.

On regional cooperation between Japan and Thailand, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi said that Japan would continue to assist Mekong Region development in the aim of further integration of ASEAN, particularly the closing of the economic gap between the rich members of ASEAN and the poor and new members of ASEAN.

Foreign ministers meeting between Japan and Myanmar

Mr. Takashima: On the meeting between Foreign Minister Kawaguchi and Minister for Foreign Affairs U Win Aung of the Union of Myanmar, they discussed mainly the domestic situation of Myanmar. Foreign Minister Kawaguchi, as she said during the course of discussion with Thailand Foreign Minister Surakiat that it was very important to see all parties including the National League for Democracy (NLD) to participate in the democratic process of Myanmar.

Foreign Minister Kawaguchi also said that although Japan was withholding new ODA to Myanmar except for the humanitarian assistance, Japan would consider further the needs of the people of Myanmar when there was progress in democratization and the national harmonization.

Foreign Minister Kawaguchi took note of Foreign Minister U Win Aung's remarks that Prime Minister Khin Nyunt had recent contact with Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, but the Japanese side is still evaluating the meaning of it because there was no further explanation on that.

Question concerning Japan's decision to send the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq

Q: In the Prime Minister's meeting with President Megawati of Indonesia, were there any exchanges of views with regard to the decision by Japan to send Self-Defense Forces to Iraq?

Mr. Takashima: My understanding is that this was mentioned and Prime Minister Koizumi explained that the dispatch of the SDF is solely for the assistance of reconstruction of Iraq and is not for any military action except for the possible self-protection, but that there was no particular reaction from President Megawati, just a kind of brief outlining of it.

Questions concerning the lifting of martial law on Aceh

Q: Was there any specific suggestion from the Japanese Prime Minister to President Megawati on the lifting of the martial law status in Aceh?

Mr. Takashima: "As soon as possible," those were the exact words that Prime Minister Koizumi used when he touched upon the lifting of martial law there.

Q: I would just like to confirm on issue with you on one issue, which is the issue of Aceh, the lifting of martial law in Aceh. You mentioned that Japan also supports the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia. Is the lifting of martial law in Aceh set as a precondition of Japan's position in support of the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia, or is it a totally separate thing?

Mr. Takashima: The basic position of the Japanese Government is that it appreciates the territorial integrity of Indonesia, and the lifting of martial law is a wish which should be achieved as soon as possible.

Question concerning whether or not there had been bilateral discussions on terrorism

Q: Did Prime Minister Koizumi and Foreign Minister Kawaguchi discuss the Iraq issue with any of the other leaders?

Mr. Takashima: Some, because the decision was a very recent event, they did touch upon it but there was no deep or I would say detailed discussion about it at each meeting. Unfortunately the time for each meeting was very much limited, 30 minutes was the schedule and some slightly shorter than 30 minutes and therefore they could not have much discussion on these issues.

Q: It is a question about the so-called terrorism. Did they discuss anything about this issue regarding not only Iraq but anywhere else?

Mr. Takashima: Actually today's meetings were mostly on bilateral issues and terrorism and other security issues will be picked up during the course of the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting.

Question concerning the schedule for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting

Q: May I ask you about plans for tomorrow? What will be the main topics that will be discussed in Session I?

Mr. Takashima: Tomorrow there will be a foreign ministers meeting at the Imperial Hotel from 11:00 to 12:00 to finalize the draft of the basic document and draft action plan, and then the leaders will gather at the Akasaka State Guest House at around 13:00. At 13:30 the photo session is scheduled and from 13:50 to 15:30 the first part of the special summit meeting will be held and will be co-chaired by Prime Minister Koizumi and President Megawati. The basic agenda for this first session will be the "Overview of the relations between Japan and ASEAN" to review the more than 30 years of history of Japan and ASEAN and to evaluate the achievements of what the 11 countries have done so far.

Later at 16:30 the leaders of this special summit meeting will pay a visit to the Imperial Palace to have tea with Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan and from 19:30 Prime Minister Koizumi will host the official dinner at the Imperial Hotel.

The day after tomorrow on December 12 from 9:30 to 12:25, Session II of the special summit meeting will be held and the main agenda is the future of Japan-ASEAN relations. They will touch upon political as well as security issues, economic relations, development including the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), Mekong regional development and BIMP-EAGA, that is Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Republic of the Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area, the regional development plan concerning the island of Borneo and Mindanao among others.

Session III would follow to conclude the meeting and from 12:40 to 13:00 there will be a signing ceremony of the joint declaration as well as the action plan. If Japan's preparation is completed by then, during the course of this signing ceremony the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) would be signed by the representatives of ASEAN and Japan. But it still remains to be seen.

After that, President Megawati and Prime Minister Koizumi will hold a joint press conference in this hotel, the Akasaka Prince Hotel.

Tomorrow in the morning hours there will be several bilateral meetings and also foreign ministers meetings, and in the late afternoon of Friday there will be additional bilateral meetings.

After those meetings, from 18:00 on Friday 12 December there will be a special reception held at the Tokyo International Forum followed by the performance of dance companies from all 11 countries which will jointly perform the Rainbow Dance, and that will conclude this Commemorative Summit.