Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

REPORTER: I would like to ask a question related to President Trump’s executive order to temporarily ban the entry of immigrants and refugees from seven countries in the Middle East and Africa to the United States. As discussed in the morning press conference, President Hollande of France, Prime Minister May of the United Kingdom, and others have made critical comments regarding the executive order. In the morning press conference, you indicated the Government of Japan would refrain from commenting. Does the Japanese Government still have no comment regarding this matter?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: As stated in the morning press conference, the immigration control policies of each country, including the United States, are fundamentally domestic matters. Furthermore, I recognize that there are a variety of opinions on this matter within the United States itself, and therefore the Japanese Government would like to refrain from making a comment. In general terms, however, we recognize the issue of refugees and countermeasures against terrorism as being global in nature. The Japanese Government will continue closely following the implementation of the President’s executive order regarding immigration policies.

(Abridged)

REPORTER: I would like to confirm existing reports which state that the National Defense Program Guidelines (NDPG) will be revised ahead of schedule, and that ahead of the revision a discussion will be held between foreign affairs and defense authorities of Japan and the United States and the NDPG will be adjusted based on that discussion. Can you please confirm the facts of these reports?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY SUGA: First of all, currently I believe it is most important to steadily build up our defense system based on the NDPG and Mid-Term Defense Program, which are part of Japan’s defense program formulated in 2013 by the Ministry of Defense. At the current time, I am not aware that any analysis meeting has been set up.