



Transcript of joint press conference, Tokyo

THU 21 APRIL 2011

Prime Minister

Subject(s): Visit to North Asia; Japanese earthquake and tsunami; Whaling

PRIME MINISTER KAN: First, we have the first offshore guest of honour after the  earthquake, we have with us Prime Minister Gillard and I’d like to extend my heartfelt  welcome to her.

Prime Minister Gillard’s visit to Japan shows that Japan is safe, she is communicating this  fact to the rest of the world. In this respect we think her visit to Japan, perhaps is more  powerful than one million words and including that point earlier, I expressed my heartfelt  appreciation to her for her visit.

Also, Prime Minister Gillard, says that a 8-year-old Australian wants a letter delivered to me  and she just hand delivered it to me, and this boy looked at press reports of Japan and there is  an 8-year old child in Japan who lost the parents and because of this the boy wanted to  deliver a (inaudible) that may be needed by this Japanese child and also he would like to visit  Japan, he would like to live here, he really wished he could go to the same school with the  Japanese child. The boy wants this Japanese child to come to Australia and live with him and  go to the school with him, this is letter addressed to me and Prime Minister Gillard gave it to  me.

I’d like to just say that this act should be well known to the Japanese community, so this is a  very heart warming feeling that we have from Australia and I have been feeling the warmth  of heart all along, since the beginning, we have had a 72 strong rescue team from Australia  and also C-17s came over to Japan for transport and in Sanriku the Australian rescue team  was quite active and Prime Minister Gillard will visit the town two days later.

So, she is scheduled to do that and I have to say how heart warming their support has been  and I’d like to express my appreciation to them for their very strong solidarity, at the same  time the airlift by the C-17s for Japan, in respect of supplementary support, the Australians,  the US military were the only two forces that have extended support to Japan and it’s going  to be a 2+2, Japan Australia for defence minister consultations and in these talks disaster  relief is included, the strengthening of our security cooperation will be discussed and Prime  Minister Gillard says that this is a major step toward that and I fully concurred with her.

And furthermore, with respect to the nuclear accidents, I explained to her what has transpired,  it’s not the situation is totally steady, but a roadmap has been announced by the Tokyo  Electric Power Company, and now there should be no delay.

The Government of Japan would also like to express also at the same time that all sorts of  information about the nuclear power station accident would be communicated to the entire  international community including Australia and also to IAEA - Australia is one of the  members and we want to provide the international community with transparent information.

At the same time this is something that was mentioned by myself and also by Prime Minister  Gillard that in the course of time Australia, the LNG is a kind of energy that doesn’t produce  (inaudible) CO2. Australia certainly provides us with that and also Australia is developing  clean energy and also the development of rare earth is another field that we would like to  cooperate with each other in and we have come to an agreement on these points and  furthermore towards the resolution of the negotiations over Japan Australia EPA. The basic  thinking regarding its need, I have been insistent in working on that, but at this point to the  Prime Minister and I think we are doing the utmost in addressing the (inaudible) earthquake  crisis and if possible we would like to see a resumption of the talks.

That’s what I communicated to her and I got her understanding. After the earthquake we have  this first official guest of honour and on behalf of the Japanese people I’d like to once again  thank her. In the Asia-Pacific region we have these two countries and I hope these two  countries will cooperate further and I’d like to deepen our relationship and I think the Prime  Minister’s visit to Japan at this point in time has represented a major step forward and I’m  sure there’s going to be a further leap forward, I’m convinced of this.

That’s all I have to say at this point in time, thank you.

PM: Prime Minster Kan thank you for those words and thank you for the generous invite to  join you in Japan. I very much feel privileged to be the first foreign leader to be invited by the  Government of Japan to visit after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. The Australian  people have been thinking of you and the people of Japan at this incredibly difficult time, and  perhaps our heartfelt sentiments have been best captured in the words of an 8-year-old boy,  who watched in Australia what was happening in Japan, who saw on his TV screen a  Japanese 8-year-old boy who had lost his parents, and then thought the best thing to do was to  write to Prime Minister Kan and to ask me to deliver the letter.

In a child’s words, it’s about offering to share his toys. In the words of adults, it’s about the  two of us working together, the Australian people and the Japanese people working together,  to support the people of Japan at this very difficult time.

We were pleased to support you in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, and we intend to  stay true friends of Japan as Japan rebuilds and recovers, and I have made an open offer to  Prime Minister Kan on more than one occasion that Australia will do anything it can to assist  during this very difficult period.

I believe it’s very appropriate that we have agreed that at the next 2 + 2 meeting, the meeting  of our foreign ministers and defence ministers, a key item of work should be future  collaboration in disaster management and emergency management. We have worked together  this year in Japan, we have worked together this year in Christchurch, we should work  together on a framework for ongoing cooperation - not just going to each other’s aid in  circumstances of natural disaster or emergency, but going together to the aid of third  countries that need that assistance.

I’ve also been very pleased to discuss with the Prime Minister today Australia’s history as a  reliable supplier of energy to the people of Japan, and the fact that we will continue to be a  reliable supplier of energy into the future, and particularly now, as the people of Japan need  new energy sources because of the nuclear emergency which was occasioned by the tsunami  and earthquake.

I’ve been pleased to discuss with the Prime Minister the potential for collaboration on clean  energy initiatives, and I look forward to that work together, as well as our working together  on the question of rare earths. Australia has rare earths, these are very sought-after  commodities, and we will work with Japan as we mine and export these commodities.

Can I say, too, to the Prime Minister I very much welcomed our discussions on the free trade  agreement. We understand that for the Prime Minister and the Government of Japan at this  time the work that is necessary to help the Japanese people overcome the impact of the  natural disaster of this year has been first and foremost the work of the Government, but I  very much welcome the Prime Minister’s indication that at the earliest possible opportunity  we will resume discussion of the free trade agreement, and I very much welcome and endorse  the Prime Minister’s perspectives on free trade as announced in November last year through  his basic policy and views of trade liberalisation.

We’ve also agreed today that at the 2 + 2 meeting, we will work together on future defence  cooperation, and I very much welcome that indication from the Prime Minister.

Can I conclude by saying it’s been an enormous privilege to have this first discussion. I’m  very much looking forward to continuing our discussions over a working dinner, and I do  again want to say thank you very much for inviting me to come to Japan at this time. I hope  by being here in person I can convey to the people of Japan the very best wishes and support  of the Australian people.

JOURNALIST: (inaudible) to Prime Minister Kan, I have a question to your first. From  tomorrow the 20km radius from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi, will be no-go zone, the people will  be allowed to go there just for a few minutes.

Some people say it’ too harsh, the criteria conditions for going back to their house, now you  went to Fukushima to see the situation of the 50 people, you heard what they had to say, now  based on what you heard with respect to the conditions for going back home, or going to  review the conditions for not just for going back home but for (inaudible) permanently go  back home. What are you going to do for the (inaudible), you talked about that thing going to  plan, what specifics do you have to say?

Prime Gillard - Australia, Japan and the United States, the three countries have cooperated in  the disaster and so on. In these fields of cooperation how do you think you are able to take of  advantage of what you’ve learned now with respect to the nuclear accident and disaster, do  you have anything to say about information disclosure?

PRIME MINISTER KAN: First, today I went near the nuclear power station in Fukushima  prefecture, I visited the place where the affected people are escaping to and I had an  opportunity to directly hear from them as to what they had to say.

The mayors of the village, the town and also I heard from the governor of the prefecture as  well. To answer your question in respect to the set up of the evacuation zone, it doesn’t really

mean we’re going to impose harsh conditions on the (inaudible), conversely the residents are  concerned about for example the experience of thieves going into their houses, now legally  by setting the evacuation zone in the area, if these people try to go into the area we can stop  them, those people. So we have a legal ground to do that, a legal basis to do that.

When it comes to returning home temporarily, at the earliest possible date, however at the  same time - rather than returning home - returning temporarily, being there for just a couple  of hours, they were allowed to go back home, because they just left their homes without  doing anything. So we’d like to provide them with an opportunity for them to get whatever  they need from their houses, that is the intention of the (inaudible).

So at this point many people, including the Mayors of the communities, I believe that I have a  good understanding from them and now of course these people would like to return to their  houses permanently as soon as possible, of course the majority of them will have -almost all  of them - and in this respect TEPCo devised a roadmap and without any delay, is possible  perhaps we should realise the roadmap, but in advance, the Government would like to do its  utmost and the nuclear power plant has to go into the core shutdown and when that’s  achieved of course decontamination has to be done very actively.

In what area, when can people go back home? We would like to establish a situation where  that can take place and for that to happen, first the roadmap has to be achieved, realised and  everything must be done to do that.

PM: Thank you very much for your question. I recognise the unimaginable scale of the  disaster that has hit Japan, including the circumstances that gave rise to the nuclear crisis that  Japan has had to face and has had to deal with. Australia very much welcomes Prime  Minister Kan’s commitment to sharing of information, a commitment restated to me today.  We very much welcome that.

And Australia stands ready to work with Japan through the International Atomic Energy  Agency, to deal with this nuclear problem and also of course to review nuclear safety for the  future. And we stand ready too to do anything further we can to assist, at an earlier stage  during the nuclear problem, Australia did assist by flying some equipment that was needed,  with one of our C-17s, one of our big heavy-lift military aircraft and if there is anything  further we can do to assist then we’d be only too pleased to do so.

JOURNALIST: Hello, I’m Matthew Franklin from The Australian newspaper and I’ve got a  question for both leaders. I’d like to ask whether you talked in your meeting about China and  I’d like to ask whether in the context of the increasing military cooperation between Japan  and Australia, you have concerns about the growing military spending in China and its  security implications for our region and also their growing assertiveness in the world.

On a second issue, a question to Prime Minister Kan, Australia and Japan have been good  friends for many decades now, five decades of close economic and political cooperation. I  would like to know how you feel and how you think your countrymen feel about the fact that  Australia, despite that long friendship, is taking your country to court over the issue of  whaling.

PM: If I can perhaps answer your question first Matthew, and thank you for it. The Prime  Minister and I are going to continue our discussions over a working dinner tonight. Australia  and Japan have shared perspectives on our region, we certainly are constructively engaged

with China and we share the view that we want to see China become a full participant in the  rules based global order, including through forums like the G20 and in our own region the  East Asia Summit.

We do have a longstanding defence cooperation between our two countries and a trilateral  defence cooperation between our two countries and the United States. We’ve taken the  opportunity of our discussions today to talk about furthering the bilateral defence cooperation  between us and of course we will be working on a trilateral basis as the United States works  its way through its Global Force Posture Review.

The Prime Minister and I at this point haven’t had an opportunity to share perspectives on  that Global Force Posture Review, but it’s something I’m sure we will be able to discuss over  our working dinner.

PRIME MINISTER KAN: With respect to the question about China, as Prime Minister  Gillard mentioned just now, in the working dinner we would like to exchange our opinions  with each other and also with respect to Australia, what sort of feeling I have on this question  - a little more than 30 years ago I had a chance to visit Australia, I went and climbed Ayers  Rock. Really, when I went there with a small interest, I thought the aircraft was slow that was  the first time I felt that in my whole life, in others words it took quite a lot of time to get  there. The country is blessed with good nature and also a good natured people and also you  have a brave and bold people in Australia and in that visit I got to know that.

But as far as Japan is concerned, our relationship with Australia, at the grassroots level and  other levels, I think Australia is one the most friendly countries in the world. I think many  people judge most of the issues against this background.

I think basically we see eye to eye on most of the issues. When it comes to whaling, it is true  that there are some differences of opinion, but because of this issue the entire bilateral  relationship should not be eroded. So of course we have to share our thoughts frankly, but we  have to be sure that it shouldn’t be an impediment to our relationship.

So, Japan and Australia will establish a very strong relationship, as far as we exist, we’ll  establish a friendly relationship for five years, ten years, ten thousand years.

