 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|||
 |
|||
Opening Statements by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and |
Monday, February 18, 2002 |
|
PRIME MINISTER KOIZUMI: This is my fourth meeting with President Bush, and we engaged in extremely candid and friendly talks. I believe we were able to hold a very useful meeting. We renewed our friendship and cemented further our relationship of trust, and went on to reaffirm the importance of Japan-U.S. alliance.
On the fight against terrorism, I made clear to the President that Japan, on its own initiative, will continue to cooperate with the United States under close coordination in the international community, to stand firm with resolve for eradication of terrorism. I expressed my respect for the strong leadership that President Bush has exercised to date. On September 11th, these unforgivable terrorist acts took place. President and I agreed that in this fight against terrorism, we need to continue our long lasting cooperation and we need to carry forward under international cooperation. On these points, again, we saw eye to eye. On the issue of Afghanistan, the roles that Japan and the United States play will differ, but we should complement each other in order to make our own contributions to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Afghanistan. Turning to East Asia, as a whole, the relationship between Japan and East Asia is important for the peace and stability in the world. Japan attaches importance to our relations with China and the Republic of Korea, and the close coordination between Japan and China, as well as that between Japan and the Republic of Korea are something that I would also like to work on to further strengthen. On North Korea, Japan, through cooperation and coordination with the United States and the Republic of Korea, would like to work on the normalization of relations with North Korea. With regard to China, we welcome China's accession to WTO. It will be hosting Olympic games in the near future as well. I expressed my hope that China would play an important role in the international community, and play its part , recognizing its important responsibilities. In considering the future of friendly ties between Japan and China and Japan and the Republic of Korea, we also agreed that Japan-U.S. relations would be very important. Turning to economic issues, economic revitalization in Japan to imbue confidence once again in the Japanese economy is vital. This is the greatest mission given to my cabinet whether the approval rating is high or low, I shall not slacken this structural reform efforts that I've made. This policy of structural reform will not change whatsoever, I explained this to President Bush -- the measures against deflation and measures to prevent the financial unrest -- we will carry them out steadily. There will be absolutely no change to the structural reform efforts that my administration has maintained, that it may only be strengthened; it will never slow down. I made these very clear to President Bush, and he expressed his strong support and encouragement to me. Ten years ago, Japan perhaps was a little over-confident. Today, Japan has lost confidence in itself. But Japan has to regain confidence, and with confidence and hope, if we work on the structural reform, then definitely Japan shall be able to revive its economy. And the potentials of Japan can also come to the fore. It is to that end that my administration has been working on structural reform. President Bush has shown his understanding towards this and has expressed his strong support for this policy of mine. On global challenges, there is the global warming issue and Kyoto protocol question. The United States has come up with a constructive proposal. The question of environment and the question of economy should proceed hand in hand and they should not run counter to each other. For the future of the globe, technological development in the interest of the environment will produce economic growth. Efforts to improve the environment will bring about science and technology -- development in science and technology thus, also generate further economic development. This perspective should not be lost. Japan will aim at achieving both economic growth and environmental improvements. Japan thus welcomes the United States' constructive proposals on the climate change and global warning. We appreciate the stance shown by the United States to contribute on that front, and we would expect greater efforts in that respect. On the global warming, environmental as well as the economic questions in broad areas, Japan wishes to engage in discussions with the United States and cooperate with the U.S. I was able to have very candid exchange of views on all these and numerous other issues. This, as I said, was our fourth meeting, but I feel as if we've met each other umpteen times already. In fact, we were able to exchange views on almost anything. Our relations are built on a deep mutual trust and, building on that, we'd like to further develop our relations. And I believe it will be important for Japan and the United States to cooperate on these and numerous other issues, because in doing so we'll contribute not just to Japan and the United States, but to the entire world. In this respect, it was a great meeting. PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. It is a real pleasure and honor to begin my trip to Asia here in Japan. And the reason why our first stop is here in Japan is because Japan is one of America's greatest and truest friends. I also want to thank my friend, the Prime Minister. He is a man whose word I trust, a man whose advice I seek, and a person with whom I've got good personal relations. And I want to thank you for your friendship and your generous hospitality. I believe the U.S.-Japanese alliance is the bedrock for peace and prosperity in the Pacific. Japan is a generous host to America's forward-deployed forces, providing an essential contribution to the stability of Asia. This enduring partnership benefits both our countries, but it also benefits the world. The peace of the world is now threatened by global terror. And we have had no better friend, and nobody provides such steadfast support than the Japanese government. I remember the phone call, Mr. Prime Minister; you gave me when I was in the Oval Office. It meant so much to hear -- in this right after 9/11; it meant so much to hear your voice and your steadfast support, which has not wavered. And I want to thank you and the Japanese people for that. Japan also understands that in order to complete the first theater in the war against terror that we must help Afghanistan rebuild. And I want to thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, and your government, for hosting a very important conference. Today we had a -- we spent some -- a good deal of time talking about how to make sure that the Afghanistan of today, the post-Taliban Afghanistan is stable and has a chance to achieve prosperity and security and peace for her citizens. And Japan plays an incredibly important role in that. Japan also has aided people throughout the world. Japan is a generous nation, it's helping the developing nations with health and education needs. And for that we are also very grateful. Prime Minister Koizumi and I not only reaffirmed the importance of the Japanese-United States security alliance, we also talked about our economies. I told him that our economy is still in a recession, but there are some hopeful signs that we're recovering. There are some signs that the tax relief plan that we put in place is having a positive effect, so that we're beginning to see some growth. I also, obviously, talked to him about his strategy for the Japanese economy. And he mentioned about confidence. Well, let me tell you what my confidence level is like: I'm confident in this man's leadership ability; I'm confident in his strategy and I'm confident in his desire to implement that strategy. And when he implements the strategy, it will help Japan's economy a lot. And that's important. It's important not only for our bilateral relations, it is important for the world's second largest economy to grow. It'll help the region and it will help the world. And so, Mr. Prime Minister, it is my honor to come to your beautiful country. I want to thank you very much for your hospitality. Laura thanks you for your hospitality, as well. And I look forward to our meeting tonight, and the chance to speak to the Diet tomorrow. And, as importantly, I look forward to meeting the Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and the Empress. Thank you, sir. |