Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary

JAPANESE

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have three items to report. The first is that today, the Cabinet met for our regularly scheduled meeting. At today's Cabinet meeting, 17 items including general items, as well as a draft legislation, government ordinances, and personnel decisions were approved. From the ministers, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Environment reported on the signing of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Minister Renho reported on the Spring 2011 National Traffic Safety Campaign and the "Zero Traffic Accident Fatality Day", Chairman of the National Public Safety Commission Kansei Nakano reported on the implementation of the Spring 2011 National Traffic Safety Campaign, and I reported on the visit to the United Kingdom by Her Imperial Highness Princess Akiko.

At the gathering of ministers that followed, Minister Nakano discussed the public rally hosted by groups of family members of those abducted by North Korea, etc., I discussed matters related to senior personnel at Government offices and ministries after the regular session of the Diet, and Minister Koichiro Gemba and Minister Kaoru Yosano discussed the draft overall guideline for policy promotion.

I would like to brief you on the issue of senior personnel at Government offices and ministries which I spoke about at the gathering of ministers. In order to be best equipped to respond to the Great East Japan Earthquake, I asked the ministers for their cooperation in limiting the reshuffling of senior personnel at their offices and ministries to the bare minimum after the regular session of the Diet. This is to ensure that personnel reshuffles will not disrupt the disaster response. It is without question that the right people should be placed in the right position on the basis of their skills and performance. However, with regards to those currently holding senior positions, I have asked the ministers to pay caution in making personnel changes based on seniority, as well as carefully review the need for personnel changes from the perspective of whether they will not disrupt the disaster response or whether they will contribute to strengthening the disaster response, including restoration and reconstruction. This excludes cases where it cannot be helped, for example, personnel have reached the retirement age or they must be reassigned for health reasons. Bearing this policy in mind, the Cabinet will approve the personnel appointments for vice-minister, director-general, and other senior positions within each Government office and ministry.

In addition, today, before the Cabinet meeting, a meeting of the Council on the State of the Economy was held, and based on that the overall guideline for policy promotion was discussed at the gathering of ministers. While post-disaster reconstruction is being discussed at the meetings of the Reconstruction Design Council, the overall guideline sets out policies on such issues as financial and social security and the New Growth Strategy, with a view to turning over a new leaf bearing in mind the situation of the disaster. A variety of views were expressed by ministers at today's gathering of ministers. Moving forward, Minister Yosano and Minister Gemba will take these views into account and further look into them. As for the details of the meeting of the Council on the State of the Economy which preceded the gathering of ministers, I believe Minister Yosano has already given a report.

Q&As

REPORTER: I have a question on the reshuffling of senior personnel. Based on your explanation just now, I understand that in principle vice-ministers and directors-general, for example, will not be reshuffled this time unless there is a compelling reason. Is this correct?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I am not saying this is absolute since, as I said, there will of course be unavoidable reasons, including retirement and health reasons. In principle, however, I would like the ministers to examine the issue with the intention of not changing the personnel.

REPORTER: On this issue of personnel, I understand senior personnel refer to anyone above director-general. How about director-level?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The policy applies to any position which requires the approval of the Cabinet.

REPORTER: I would like to ask what you think of the decision to suspend Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station, and what kind of measures the Government will be putting in place to deal with the resulting power supply shortfall.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I want to say that we are extremely grateful that Chubu Electric Power took the request of the Prime Minister seriously and made the decision to suspend the power station quickly with the attitude of prioritizing safety. The Government hopes to support, to the maximum extent possible, the stable supply of power. In relation to this, I think that we will also have to make requests for cooperation from electric power companies other than Chubu Electric Power - by which I mean those outside of Tokyo or Tohoku.

REPORTER: Will this be discussed in the Review Meeting on Power Supply and Demand which you chair?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Of course, before this request was made, the Government carefully considered and discussed the effect this would have, particularly on power supply and demand within the Tokyo and Tohoku regions. I hope to respond to each situation we encounter in the future and work out a way to move forward without causing any problems with regard to the supply of power.

REPORTER: On a related note, if you would like to make any requests to the public regarding power conservation, please do so now.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: In the Review Meeting on Power Supply and Demand we are currently in the final stages of discussion on what sort of coordination we will need to undertake this summer, particularly for areas located on the Tokyo/Tohoku grids. When we announce the results of this discussion, we will be again asking not just those living in these areas, but the people of the entire nation, to cooperate with power conservation efforts. I hope to be able to issue concrete instructions on this as soon as possible. We are currently in the final stages of discussion.

REPORTER: Will a Cabinet decision be made today on the Basic Act for Reconstruction?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: First of all, I have not received any report on the talks with opposition parties coordinated by Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary-General Katsuya Okada and People's New Party President Shizuka Kamei, and so I cannot offer a comment.

REPORTER: So the possibility of this happening today depends on the results of such discussions I suppose.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: It is something we would like to think over and decide after an actual response is received from the discussions.

REPORTER: After the Cabinet meeting ended today, it seemed like the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense and Prime Minister had quite a long discussion. What did they talk about?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have heard that the Minister for Foreign Affairs explained the status of discussion on 2+2 meetings, given that we will soon need to think about when the next meeting will be held.

REPORTER: Did the three decide anything?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: No, we aren't at such a stage.

REPORTER: Yesterday Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura of Nippon Keidanren held a press conference in which he said that the process leading up to the decision of Prime Minister Kan to request Chubu Electric Power suspend operations at Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station was a "black box" and a "political performance." Regardless of criticism concerning the judgment, I think the point of this criticism is that the decision was made independently, by a select and powerful few, secretly and away from the eyes of the public. How do you take this criticism? How do you take the fact that such criticism has been made? What do you think?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: I have not heard anything directly about Mr. Yonekura's statements, and so I would like to refrain from making a comment. I understand that there are many opinions about the request made of Chubu Electric Power by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry following the decision of the Prime Minister. However, in the end, if the worst were to happen, it is the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry who would bear responsibility for the safety of the public, and so even if there is some criticism made, I believe that they made the only decision they could have, one that prioritizes safety. I think this is an issue of how much responsibility one feels toward protecting the lives and health of the public should the worst possible scenario occur.

REPORTER: My question wasn't about how you evaluate their decision or what responsibility they have. What I want to know is what you think about the fact that this decision was made behind closed doors.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Again, I think there are many views on the way this was discussed. The Prime Minister and the Minister for Economy, Trade, and Industry made their decision based on a number of opinions they received about this issue. The background of this is the responsibility they have to securely protect the lives and safety of the people of Japan. Actually I don't really understand the criticism made of the discussion process. I can understand that there must be many opinions in the world, so there are those who will disagree with the decision made, but as for what authority these two have or what is within their power to do as the Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry and the Prime Minister - who especially is responsible for protecting the lives and safety of the public during the worst case scenario - I believe they made a political decision based on the many opinions they heard.

REPORTER: I have a slightly related question. This time the Prime Minister made a "request" to Chubu Electric Power, in the sense that there is no legal backing to enforce his instructions. What do you think about the necessity of submitting some sort of amendment to provide the kind of legal backing that would allow the Government to order that a power station's operations be suspended?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As I have said consistently for some time now, I believe we need to thoroughly discuss the entirety of nuclear policy following an investigation into the incident this time. Everything should be put on the table for this. I think that there is the possibility that the issue you just raised will be a theme of discussion.

REPORTER: Returning to the previous topic, I would like to confirm your stance on the Basic Act on Reconstruction. Earlier, there was talk about waiting for an answer on the issue from Mr. Okada and Mr. Kamei. I believe you have made time thus far to seek the opinions of those in opposition parties through the Policy Affairs Research Council and Mr. Koichiro Gemba, who chairs the Council. In the process of making a Cabinet decision, to what extent will consideration be given to the ideas proposed by the opposition in their talks with Mr. Gemba?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: The DPJ is really working hard in many ways with regard to cross-party cooperation. We will make a final decision based on the conclusions of these discussions.

REPORTER: Later today, after this conference, you will be meeting with President Shimizu of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). My first question is, what does the Government plan to discuss with TEPCO at this meeting? Secondly, was this meeting organized at TEPCO's request, or arranged by the Government? These are my two questions.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: As far as I have heard, TEPCO has requests to make of the Government, and we accepted their call for a meeting. I think what we will discuss depends on what their requests are.

REPORTER: My apologies for raising a question similar to the one that was asked yesterday. With regard to the state of emergency, you mentioned at the press conference yesterday that a declaration was not made as it would not have been effective, given stipulations that a government ordinance can only be issued when the Diet is not in session. For this earthquake disaster, the opposition did propose adjourning the Diet. What are your comments on this? While I understand the difference between adjourning a session and closing one, was it not an option to close the Diet session and declare a state of emergency in a broad sense of the term? Were such options not considered?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: If you had knowledge about the law, you would understand this issue immediately. Declaration of a states of emergency under the law are intended to make it possible to enact legislation under circumstances that would otherwise not allow for lawmaking via the Diet. As such, closing the Diet in order to declare such a state of emergency would mean that it would become impossible to continue with the ordinary legislative activities carried out by the Diet. That seems to me like putting the cart before the horse.

REPORTER: Would it be correct to say that you, as well as other officials, undertook this decision under the Prime Minister when the earthquake disaster first struck?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: Before we discuss the issue of decision-making, it is more important to focus on the fact that this would mean reversing the natural order of things. To deliberately disable the legislative processes of the Diet in order to declare a state of emergency while the Diet is actually in session, and to make a provision allowing for legislative activities after the Diet is closed would constitute little more than a performance, in my opinion.

REPORTER: Declaring a state of emergency enables the enactment of various government ordinances. However, such ordinances were not enacted this time. Did this give rise to any unexpected circumstances?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY EDANO: No such circumstances occurred. When necessary, a request could be put to the Diet to enact legislation, and if there is a real necessity for the legislation, I think that it would have been possible to enact a law quickly.