Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Opening Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura

• An overview of the Cabinet Meeting
• The Medium-term Fiscal Framework
• The Reform of Local Civil Servant System

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: Firstly I would like to give an overview of the Cabinet Meeting. The meeting approved 18 general and other measures and the promulgation of legislation, as well as cabinet orders and personnel decisions. With regard to statements by ministers, Minister Furukawa made statements concerning the Medium-term Fiscal Framework (FY2013 - 2015) and Economic and Fiscal Projections for Medium to Long Term Analysis; the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism made a statement on the Priority Plan for Social Infrastructure Development;  Minister Matsubara made a statement on the consumer affairs and consumer policy report; Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications made a statement concerning the results of the labor force survey, consumer price index and the household budget survey; the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare made a statement concerning the national ratio of jobs to applicants; the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology made a statement concerning the appointment of heads of national university corporations; and the Minister of Finance made a statement concerning the execution of the general account budget from September onwards. I (Chief Cabinet Secretary) also made a statement concerning the execution of the general account budget from September onwards and acting Ministers while Ministers in charge are away on an overseas visit. Finally, the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications and I (Chief Cabinet Secretary) each made a statement concerning Reform of the Local Civil Servant System bill, which I will address later.

In ministerial discussions following the Cabinet meeting, Minister Furukawa made a statement concerning the budget for Green Growth Strategy, and Minister Nakagawa made a statement concerning provisional measures to prevent the abuse of substances distributed under the name of "legal herbs".

At today's Cabinet Meeting, the Medium-term Fiscal Framework, which stipulates a framework for annual expenditure over the next three years, was approved. This framework stipulates the limiting of annual expenditure to 71 trillion yen until 2015, in line with the outline of discussions at last week's Council on National Strategy and Policy. At the same time, the Cabinet Office revised Economic and Fiscal Projections for Medium to Long Term Analysis taking the new Medium-term Fiscal Framework into account. According to this, we can foresee accomplishing our goal of halving the deficit in the government's primary balance by 2015. Please ask Minister Furukawa if you would like to know any further details on this matter.

On the topic of the Reform of the Local Civil Servant System bill, I would like to share a statement from one of the ministers. During the Cabinet Meeting, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Kawabata made the following statement: "In relation to the reform of the local civil servant system, we have developed and disclosed the Reform of the Local Civil Servant System Bill (draft), which grants local civil servants in regular service the right to conclude bargaining agreements among others, and we are currently listening to the different opinions of the relevant parties. At the moment we have yet to gain the approval of the three local organizations including the National Governors' Association. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications strives to undertake initiatives toward the enactment of the legislation while attempting to gain the understanding of the three organizations in regards to these reforms in order to realize the swift submission of the bill to the Diet. I would also like to ask for the cooperation of the relevant ministers." Following this, I stated that "There is a need for the Government to place additional emphasis on initiatives to realize the swift submission of the Reform of the Local Civil Servant System Bill as the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications stated. Therefore, with this shared understanding, I would like to ask for the cooperation of the relevant ministers." As can be seen, today's meeting has confirmed that the relevant ministers are aiming for a swift submission of the bill with a shared understanding toward realizing the Reform of the Local Civil Servant System that grants local civil servants in regular service the right to conclude bargaining agreements among others.

Q&As

• Japan-China relations (the attack on the vehicle carrying the Japanese Ambassador to China in Beijing)
• The review to restrain budget disbursements
• The abduction issue

(Abridged)

REPORTER: My question concerns the attack on Ambassador Niwa's vehicle in Beijing. I believe that the Japanese Government sought a criminal investigation from the beginning; however the People's Republic of China has now identified the perpetrator and it seems highly likely that the perpetrator will not be prosecuted and only receive an administrative reprimand. How does the Japanese Government view this?

(Abridged)

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I do not believe that the Japanese Government ever mentioned anything about seeking a criminal investigation.

REPORTER: I was under the impression that the Japanese Government said that it hoped that a criminal investigation would soon take place.

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: I believe you are mistaken, Japan sought that the incident be dealt with sternly and in accordance with the law in China, and I believe that Japan never made any comment as to what Chinese law should be applied in relation to this incident. I believe that we have been informed that Chinese public security authorities have identified all suspects related to this incident and that they are now conducting an investigation. Our current stance on the incident is that we expect a swift and thorough investigation of the suspects and we anticipate that they will be appropriately dealt with in accordance with Chinese law.

(Abridged)

REPORTER: In the opening statement, you said that Minister of Finance Azumi and you both made statements on budget restraints beginning in September. Could you please elaborate on this?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: This comment was in relation to our continuous work to enact the legislation on special provisions concerning issuance of government bonds as we approach the end of the current Diet session. Even if we work for this yet still have no prospect of having the measures enacted, our concern that the general account financial reserves will dry up may in fact become reality. Therefore, the Minister of Finance made a statement, "We must investigate the possibility of delaying the execution of the budget for as long as possible, in order to delay the drying up of financial reserves." Following this, I also made a statement, "With this understanding, I would like to ask the ministers for their cooperation on this matter."

(Abridged)

REPORTER: It has been reported that Ms. Megumi Yokota is alive. Could you inform us of the Government's view on this report?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA: There have been reports such as this in the past and of course the Government is aware of these new reports. The Government has undertaken information collection and analysis with the presumption that all abductees are alive, including Ms. Megumi Yokota. We have not made any comments specific to the content of the information collected due to potential interference with future information gathering. I hope you can understand our position.