E&OE
18 December 2008
Interview with Australian Media, Tokyo
SUBJECTS: North Korea; Japan; Iraq
INTERVIEWER:
Minister, from your answer to one of those particular questions, you've sort of ruled out for the time being the supply of Australian heavy fuel to North Korea. Can you explain what's behind that decision?
MINISTER:
Well we want to see progress on the verification of North Korea's program. We want North Korea effectively brought under the supervision of the international community. We're very concerned about its program and we're happy to make a contribution, but we'll only make a contribution if we see some progress. Verification is the key to that and it's quite clear given the most recent set of talks that no progress has been made on that front.
INTERVIEWER:
Couldn't there be a flow-on effect though for ordinary North Koreans if that heavy fuel isn't delivered?
MINISTER:
Well we were asked to contemplate a contribution in the context of the Six Party Talks and progress on the Six Party Talks. And we were happy in-principle to make such a contribution, but it is linked to progress on a very serious issue, North Korea's nuclear program. In the meantime, we have continued, in the course of this year and previously, to make humanitarian contributions to North Korea, particularly on the food front. So we don't have a closed mind to making such contributions if and when the humanitarian conditions or requirements are there. And that particularly applies to provision of food through the World Food Program. We continue to be open-minded about that and we have made substantial contributions in the past.
INTERVIEWER:
You're going to speak to your counter-part, your Japanese counter-part about enhancing Defence exchanges. Are there any particulars that you can share with us about that?
MINISTER:
Well Australia has a comprehensive relationship with Japan. It's a comprehensive economic, security and strategic relationship. Part of that is what we do on the Defence Cooperation front and my colleague Joel Fitzgibbon, the Minister for Defence, and his counterpart will actually be signing an up-to-date Memorandum of Understanding for Defence Cooperation between Australia and Japan. The current agreement's about four or five years old, this simply modernises it and brings it up-to-date. But whether it's to do with exercises or joint operations - our relationship with Japan is very important and it's one aspect of it.
INTERVIEWER:
So we could see some more exercises, maybe Japanese troops training alongside Australian troops, that sort of thing?
MINISTER:
Well, I'll leave the detail to my colleague. In the course of the day he'll be signing the formal Memorandum with his Japanese Defence counterpart, so he'll provide the full details of the new Agreement.
INTERVIEWER:
Before you came to Tokyo you said you'd raise the issue of Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. That wasn't the topic of your speech today, but what exactly are you going to say to your counterpart in the Japanese government?
MINISTER:
Well the topic of the speech was essentially Australia and Japan's strategic engagement, bilaterally, globally and regionally. I'd just come from a meeting, together with Mr Fitzgibbon with Prime Minister Aso and I raised the whaling issue with the Prime Minister, as I will with Foreign Minister Nakasone, and made the points that we've made in the past. That we want this issue to be resolved diplomatically, both through bilateral efforts, but also through the multilateral forum, the International Whaling Commission. I also made the point that we are disappointed that the Japanese whaling fleet has sailed again. We're disappointed for example that there's no indication of a reduction in the Japanese cull. And I expressed my various serious concern and worry that if we're not careful, we'll see terrible events in the Great Southern oceans. We know that the Sea Shepherd for example is also sailing to make its protest, and we worry very much of adverse incidences on the high seas. Capacity for fatalities or injury is great, and the capacity for rescue is low. And so I made that point as well, and that's an ongoing and continuing concern to us and we call on all parties to exercise restraint and to not put anyone's life at risk on the high seas.
INTERVIEWER:
What was Prime Minister Taro Aso's response when you did raise this issue about the whaling?
MINISTER:
Well, he continued to say, as Mr Nakasone himself has said to me in previous meetings, in Peru for example when I met with him, that Japan also wants to seek to resolve this matter diplomatically but I don't put the response any higher than that.
INTERVIEWER:
Your colleague the Environment Minister Peter Garrett has said today that legal action against Japan is still being considered. Surely that could have an impact on the relationship?
MINISTER:
Well we've made it clear that we want to resolve this issue diplomatically. But we do not discount the possibility in the future, if we can't resolve it diplomatically, that we won't resort to international legal action either before the International Court of Justice or before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, so that remains an ongoing possibility. We've made that point clear to the Japanese authorities in the past and Mr Garrett and I are making it clear again today. We want to resolve the matter diplomatically but legal action does remain an option into the future, if we can't resolve it diplomatically.
INTERVIEWER:
On a completely different issue, the legal accord that you tried to strike with Baghdad. Has there been any progress on that?
MINISTER:
We continue to work very closely with the Iraqi government. The mandate from the United Nations Security Council expires on the 31st of December. We've been in close contact with them in recent days and weeks and we're working very hard to get a solution. I'm not proposing to go into a running commentary, but it is of importance to us to ensure that the relevant legal mechanism is there to safeguard the interests of the relatively small number of Australians who remain in Iraq.
INTERVIEWER:
What would the ramifications be of the failure of finalising the Accord?
MINISTER:
Well, we take it step-by-step. Currently the protections afforded to Australian personnel, and to United Kingdom and other personnel, are there as a result of a Security Council resolution. The Security Council resolution expires on the 31st of December, so other so-called Status of Forces Agreements or arrangements need to be put in place to provide legal protection for non-Iraqi personnel. And that's what we're working very hard to effect. We'll take it step-by-step and we'll continue to apply ourselves very assiduously together with the Iraqi authorities over the coming days.
INTERVIEWER:
Minister, just returning to the issue of oil for North Korea, I understand, you made it clear that at the moment that's on hold. If conditions become more favourable, are you concerned about the possibility that the North Koreans will use Japanese non-participation in the oil program and possibly Australia's participation in order to try to exclude Japan from the Six-Party process?
MINISTER:
Well, Japan is intricately involved in the Six-Party process and I don't believe that the other Nation States involved in the Six-Party process would want to see Japan excluded. I don't think they would contemplate that whatsoever. It's very important that we try and bring a reduction of tension on the Korean Peninsula. That would be good for Korea but also good for the region and good for Australia, and that is why we've been supporting the Six-Party Talks. But I don't believe it's possible to engage in such talks without the engagement and involvement of Japan.
INTERVIEWER:
Just one other. In the 2+2 discussions, I understand that you will be considering a legal framework between the governments of Australia and Japan for cooperation on information exchange. Why is that necessary and what's missing at the moment?
MINISTER:
Well we think it's very important, because we have such a long-standing and enduring partnership which goes to strategic and security and defence arrangements, that we enhance the information sharing between Australia and Japan. One of the things that we have on the list for discussion in the 2+2 talks is to formalise the information sharing arrangements. To formalise the way in which we exchange information, nation-to-nation, on the security and strategic and defence front. One possibility is a memorandum or a legal agreement, so we've effectively agreed that we'll explore those options. One thing we know for sure is, given the closeness of the security and strategic and defence arrangement, that we want to ensure the seamless exchange of information between Australia and Japan. That's agreed between Australia and Japan. It's a matter of working out how we progress that into the future.
INTERVIEWER:
Does that have trilateral ramifications?
MINISTER:
Well for the moment we're looking at the bilateral relationship and the bilateral exchange of information between Australia and Japan.
[Ends]
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