Press Conference - Japan National Press Club

Subjects: Australia-Japan relations, whaling, environment, energy, FTA

MINISTER: Firstly, thanks very much to the Japanese Press Club for the invitation to speak to you today. I’m very pleased to be here in Japan as my first visit to Japan, and my first visit to Japan as Foreign Minister, and it follows upon a recent visit to the United States.

Firstly, I’ve been very pleased with the warm, friendly, productive and useful meetings I’ve had with members of the Japanese Government. Last night I had a meeting and dinner with Foreign Minister Koumura, and this morning I had breakfast with Speaker Kono and members of the Australia Japanese Parliamentary Friendship Group. Later this morning, I had a session with the Policy Chair of the LDP, Mr Tanigaki, and subsequently meetings with the Chief Cabinet Secretary Mr Machimura, the Defence Minister Mr Ishiba, and I was very privileged and very honoured to have a brief meeting with Prime Minister Fukuda. So, the array of meetings, as I say, was very productive and very useful.

The purpose of my early visit to Japan was to make the point that, for many years, Japan has been Australia’s closest and most consistent friend in the region. Japan and Australia share many values and share many interests. Australia’s view is that the relationship between Australia and Japan has never been stronger, but the new Australian Government is committed to making that relationship even better. Historically, the Australia-Japanese relationship was economically based, and it remains the case today that that economic relationship is vitally important. For many years, and we expect it to continue for many years, Japan has been Australia’s largest export market. That is the case generally, but it particularly applies so far as minerals and petroleum resources exports are concerned. And coming, as I do, from Western Australia, I’m only too familiar with the importance of mineral and petroleum exports to Japan, whether it’s iron ore or liquefied natural gas. Important also are the investments that Australia makes in Japan and that Japan makes in Australia. And so the economic relationship continues to be vitally important, and in terms of the future economic relationship, it’s probably best illustrated by the desire of both Australia and Japan to pursue productively the current Free Trade Agreement discussions or negotiations, as I would describe them, or the Economic Partnership Agreement, as Japan would describe it. Both nation states are of the view that pursuing an Economic Partnership Agreement would be in Australia’s best interests and Japan’s best interests. There are always, of course, issues and negotiations that need to be effective and these are under way, and it’s the Australian Government’s view that these should proceed, and we hope ultimately to be productive. In more recent times the economic relationship between Japan has spread to important security and strategic issues. And very much now, as Australia regards its relationship with Japan as being an important economic, strategic and security partnership. And in terms of our strategic or security arrangements or relationships and the broadening of that, we of course have the Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation. The Australian Government is keen to pursue the detail of the Declaration, and to do that under the so-called Action Plan that we find arising out of the Security Cooperation Declaration, and importantly the so-called 2+2 meetings which involve the Australian and Japanese Foreign Affairs and Defence Ministers. The next 2+2 meeting is scheduled to be in Australia in the course of this year, and we hope to get a concluded date for this meeting, which we expect to be in the second half of this year.

Also important to our broadening security and strategic relationship and partnership is the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue which we have between Australia, Japan and the United States. One of the very first things I did, shortly after becoming Foreign Minister in early December last year, was to have a conversation with then Deputy Foreign Minister Yabunaka who was in Canberra for discussions at officer level of the trilateral strategic dialogue, where he had discussions with Deputy Secretary of State Nick Burns and the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia, Michael L’Estrange, and I took the opportunity of having a conversation with Mr Yabunaka at that time. And shortly after that conversation I had a telephone conversation with Mr Koumura which led to my early visit to Japan. So, Australia and the United States are allies, Japan and the United States are allies, and Australia and Japan have a very important fundamental security and strategic partnership. So the pursuit of that trilateral arrangement is very important to the strategic and security interests of Australia and Japan. The regional cooperation and regional support which Australia has had from Japan over very many years is greatly appreciated by Australia. Indeed, the new government has come to office saying that there are three important pillars or fundamentals to its foreign policy approach: firstly, its alliance with the United States; secondly, its desire to increase its role in the United Nations and to see multilateralism take a greater focus in the course of foreign affairs deliberations, and thirdly, our engagement with the Asia Pacific.

I’ve just come from signing the visitors’ book at the Press Club and my attention was drawn to the signature of former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating on whose staff I worked. And it was the Hawke-Keating Government which, in our view, started the great Australian engagement with the Asia Pacific. That engagement has been greatly assisted and supported by Japan, and Japan’s support of Australia being a member of, or an observer to, regional forums has been very important and Australia has been grateful for that in previous years, and regional forums like APEC and the East Asian Summit are very important regional institutions.

I referred to our view about the United Nations and multilateralism, and I relayed to the Japanese Government the conversation that I had with the UN Deputy Secretary-General when I was in the United States and New York recently, that Australia very strongly supports reform of the United Nations, very strongly supports reform of the Security Council, and very strongly believes that in a reformed Security Council, Japan should be a permanent member of a reformed Security Council. And that is additional upon our support from time to time for Japan to be a temporary member of the Security Council.

So, all of these matters were the subject of full and productive and useful conversations with the Ministers that I have referred to, and briefly the Prime Minister. And it reflects the fundamental, the long term enduring nature of an important partnership between our two nations – an economic, a security, and a strategic partnership.

In any relationship there are, of course, issues where nation states will agree to disagree. And, of course, that issue, at this point in time, is the issue of whaling. Australia very strongly believes that Japan should cease whaling in the Southern Oceans, this point I’ve made privately to Mr Koumura by telephone as I did in my meeting with him last night, and also to the Chief Cabinet Secretary, and very briefly to the Prime Minister. Our strong view that Japan should cease whaling is, of course, not Japan’s view, and in the conversations we’ve had, there are a couple of important fundamentals: firstly, a very strong view on both my part and the part of Foreign Minister Koumura that we should continue to have a dialogue in this matter, and that the strength of our partnership is one of the things which enables us to so strongly disagree about this point. And so, whilst we have a strong disagreement, this is not an issue which, in my view, can or will adversely impact upon the fundamentals of our partnership with Japan. I’ve made it clear to Foreign Minister Koumura that we are giving consideration to a couple of things. We are giving consideration to the appointment of a diplomatic envoy to take the case – Australia’s view, the view of the Government and the Australian people that Japan should cease whaling – to appoint a diplomatic envoy to make that point. Secondly, that we are giving very careful consideration to the possibility of taking international legal action in respect to this matter, but I’ve given an undertaking to the Foreign Minister that Australia will continue to be in consultation and dialogue with him about this particular matter. I think the overall key point about the whaling issue is that this is an issue where there are strong views firmly held, we’ve agreed to disagree, and I’m not expecting that this will in any way affect or impact on the fundamental nature of a long term, enduring economic, strategic and security partnership.

In conclusion, I’ve published some written notes. I have dealt with the key aspects or key themes of those written notes. I’m very grateful for your attention and I’m happy to do my best to answer you questions. Thanks very much.

JOURNALIST: It is honour to meet you. I have two questions associated with whaling. Activists from the Sea Shepherd, an environmentalist organisation, got on board a Japanese scientific research whaling vessel. When Mr Crean, the Trade Minister came to Japan the other day, the Japanese side expressed their concern about this. I hear that the Sea Shepherd has stopped at an Australian port for refuelling. Firstly, is Australia planning to take any legal action against Sea Shepherd - which was seemingly suggested by the Japanese side - and in that case what kind of legal action are you planning? Or so far is there no such action planed? And secondly, the Oceanic Viking, is currently monitoring the Japanese scientific research vessels’ activities, and it is said the Oceanic Viking is collecting evidence to build a case to bring before the International Court of Justice. At which point, in what way and in what kind of time, is the Australian government planning to do so?

MINISTER: Well, thanks very much. If I can deal with the second question first. The Australian government has commissioned the Oceanic Viking to conduct a monitoring and surveillance operation to endeavour to gather evidence of Japanese whaling for potential use in an international legal case to potentially make the point in an international legal case that the Australian government’s view and the view of the Australian people is that this is not scientific research. It is the killing of whales. Non-lethal scientific research of whales currently takes place and we have no difficulty with that continuing, but we don’t believe that the so-called lethal scientific research is scientific research. So the purpose of the Oceanic Viking is to gather that evidence for potential use. As I indicated in my opening remarks, we are giving very careful deliberation to that possibility and in the course of that deliberation, we will continue to consult by way of dialogue with the Japanese government to let the Japanese government know of our deliberations and in due course our conclusion.

So far as the Sea Shepherd and, as well, the Greenpeace Esperanza is concerned, let me make some general remarks. Firstly, when the Australian government announced in late December its public policy objective and the array of measures it would take to seek to persuade Japan to desist or cease from whaling, I made the point that when vessels, whether they were whaling vessels or whether they are customs vessels or whether they are vessels operated by NGOs - whether it’s Greenpeace or the Sea Shepherd - that the most important thing is for everyone to exercise restraint. We are dealing with very dangerous waters a long way from safety and the prospect or danger of harm is great and the capacity for rescue is low. When the two gentlemen concerned boarded the – and I urged everyone to exercise restraint – when the two gentlemen boarded the vessel, I made the point at the time, that I didn’t regard that as being consistent with the exercise of restraint that I had called for. Once the two men were on board the ship, we immediately requested the Japanese government to assist in getting those men off the Japanese whaling vessel, back on to the Sea Shepherd from where they had come. The Japanese government quickly agreed to that, but it was impossible to get the two captains concerned to agree to cooperate. As a consequence, the Japanese government requested the Australian government to assist, which we did, using the Oceanic Viking and, as a consequence, transported successfully and safely the two gentlemen from the Japanese whaling vessel to the Oceanic Viking and subsequently to the Sea Shepherd. That was at the request of the Japanese government and the Japanese government was very grateful that Australia had assisted in that way. I also made the point at that time, which I repeat again today, the Australian government is not responsible for the actions of others. We are not responsible for the actions of the Esperanza or the actions of the Sea Shepherd. Anyone, from wherever they come, who has conducted themselves in an unlawful or illegal way, is condemned by the Australian government. We do not condone unlawful or illegal activity. Nor do we condone actions on the high seas which put at risk people’s safety. And on the day that the two gentlemen were transferred back to the Sea Shepherd, the captain of the Sea Shepherd said that he saw no reason for such an incident to occur again. And I hope that’s right and I urge everyone concerned to exercise restraint and to ensure that if there is contact on the high seas, that maritime safety and safety of individuals concerned is paramount and primary. The Australian government has made it clear that the Australian Federal Police are currently evaluating whether any unlawful or illegal conduct has occurred. That is in accordance with the usual and the normal Australian practices and procedures, and the Australian Federal Police are currently undergoing that evaluation and they will make their own deliberations independently in accordance with the appropriate Australian practices.

JOURNALIST: I have two questions on the environment and energy. The first question is about the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Under the new administration, Australia has shifted its environmental policies and ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and how the next framework (post Kyoto) should be formed has become a major theme for Australia. That is a very important process now. Is Australia ready to accept its numerical or quantitative reduction target or at least move that direction?

The US and India are increasing their nuclear cooperation. However Australia has indicated to India that Australia will not export to countries who have not signed the NPT. This is an issue which is going to be discussed among the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Is Australia going to urge India to sign the NPT?

MINISTER: Thanks very much. The first question relates to climate change, and can I say that the very first thing I did as the new Foreign Minister of Australia was to credential the Australian delegation to the UN Conference on Climate Change. And one of the very first things that the Australian government did was to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and I was very pleased to accompany the Prime Minister at Bali when we handed the ratification over to the UN Secretary-General, Ban-Ki Moon. So that reflected and underlined the new Australian government’s view that we cannot be complacent on climate change. We have to see deep emission cuts and the Australian government has, for example, committed itself to a 60% reduction on emissions from Year 2000 levels by 2050. We’ve also committed ourselves to making a target of 20% of renewables over the medium period. The understanding that both developed and developing nations need to effect cuts in emissions is well-understood by Australia, just as it is well-understood by Japan. And I’ve noted, for example, the Cool Earth policy announced by the Japanese Prime Minister in recent times. Australia looks very much forward to working closely with Japan as emissions abatement is pursued. That, of course, will be the primary subject, or a key subject of conversation at the G8 Meeting in July, which Japan hosts. So Australia appreciates that both developed and developing nations need to make emissions cuts. That needs to be done by putting, to use an Australian expression, putting the shoulder to the wheel, both in bilateral relations, in regional forums, and multilaterally to effect the long-term emissions cuts that the world requires.

So far as nuclear energy is concerned, Australia is an exporter of uranium. But the current government has had a longstanding policy commitment as a political party and from opposition that we will not authorise the export of uranium to a country which is not a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has always been supported by Australia and the current Australian government came to office with a renewed commitment to seek to be much more active, to see Australia much more active as a nation on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament matters. And our very strong view that uranium should not be exported to a non- Nuclear Proliferation Treaty country is reflected by the conversation I had with the Indian Prime Ministerial envoy in Perth shortly before I left for my trip to the United States and Japan. The question of the US-India Civil Nuclear Agreement is a matter that I have discussed both with the Indian Prime Ministerial envoy and with the United States administration. The first point I make is of course there are matters to be determined, both by the Indian government and the Indian parliament and also by the United States congress prior to any agreement being concluded. The issue for the international Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group is if it comes to pass that the United States government and congress and the Indian government and parliament approve an India-US Civil-Nuclear Agreement, whether that should be approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency and by the Nuclear Suppliers Group. I’ve indicated to both the governments of India and the United States that the Australian government is giving consideration to that matter, very careful consideration, and in due course, if a decision by Australia is required as part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group or the International Atomic Energy Agency, we’ll let that decision be made known in due course. But it is predicated on both the Indian government and the United States government and the Indian parliament and the United States congress approving such an arrangement.

QUESTION: I have questions about the FTA. When do you think the negotiations could be completed? Do you have any timeframe in mind? Also, there is a strong opposition to an FTA with Australia on the part of the Japanese agriculture sector. What is your view on this?

MINISTER: Both Australia and Japan think it is in Australia’s and Japan’s national interest to effect or agree on a Free Trade Agreement between our two nations or an Economic Partnership Agreement. I’m much more concerned about the quality of the agreement than I am about the timetable on which it is agreed. In all of these areas there are sensitivities and there are issues which need to be resolved and there is no secret that the agricultural industry in Japan has a range of sensitivities about the pursuit of a Free Trade Agreement or an Economic Partnership Agreement. So I’m much more concerned to insure that we get a high quality agreement than I am about the actual timetable. Negotiations are under way. It’s the wish of both the Australian government and the Japanese government that those negotiations continue and I’m looking forward very much to ultimately an agreement being made or fixed between the two nations which is consistent with multilateral trading arrangements, but an agreement which also is in Australia and Japan’s best interest. I have a very strong view that openness on economic matters is ultimately to the benefit of individual nation states just as it is to our region, just as it is to the international community.

Thanks to Minister and presentation of small token of appreciation.

Ends

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