(19 May 2003, Monday, 17:00 - At Shiba Press Conference Room)

Takeuchi - Vice Foreign Minister of Japan

First of all, I would like to talk about the Joint Council Meeting between the parties concerned, which was held on 17th and 18th this month in Tokyo. As a part of diplomatic initiatives for 'Fixed Peace', our country held the 'Preparatory Meeting Regarding Peace and Rehabilitation for Aceh' in Tokyo last December. Then, one week after the meeting the Government of Japan (GOJ) pushed signing of the Cessation of Hostilities (CoHA).

In January this year, at the CGI meeting, the Japanese government stated its intention to support the rehabilitation of Aceh, assuming the implementation of a peace agenda. GOJ also has made an effort such as supporting the monitoring activity to implement CoHA. Furthermore, regarding the Joint Council meeting this time, GOJ, as a member of cochair countries, offered lateral support with the United States, EU and the World Bank, including an offer for the meeting venue.

Therefore, as the Foreign Minister commented last night, it is very disappointing for our country, which has been giving support, that the Joint meeting this time ended unsuccessfully, not leading to the solution for the current problems.

Furthermore, on 19 May midnight at the local time, the presidential decision on the Declaration of a State of Emergency with the Status of Martial Law was announced. Since then, GOJ has been watching the development of events intently.

Of course the stability of Indonesia is extremely important not only for Indonesia herself but also for the peace and security of the Asian Region. The current situation is very serious. Our country strongly hopes that this problem (the Aceh conflict) is solved peacefully under the unitary territory of Indonesia, and we continue lateral support for solving the problem.

(Q) Regarding the case of Aceh, you mentioned that Japan will continuously act as a mediator for peace. I'd like to hear some concrete policy on that.

(Takeuchi) We are very concerned with the current situation. However, if asked whether there is something we can do immediately, I think the answer is that we watch over the development of events for the time being. On the other hand, since we have channels of communication with both Government of Indonesia and GAM, we would like to search for an opportunity to bring both sides to the negotiation table once again. However, if asked whether there are some concrete ideas, the answer is no. We are going to search for that.

(Q) You just said that you were very disappointed. According to GOJ, which side was responsible for the collapse of the talk this time, the Indonesian government or GAM?

(Takeuchi) I think we cannot make a definite judgment as to which side was responsible. Let me describe the events chronologically. According to the story from the Indonesian government, a series of cease fire violations were committed by GAM. Furthermore, for example, GAM still insisted on secession/independence, rejecting the special autonomy; GAM imposed forceful tax collections on the people; GAM did not carry out the placement of GAM weapons which is the important part of the CoHA accord.

The situation became worse with armed clashes between the two parties. The point in dispute is whether GAM gives up the aspiration for independence or not and whether GAM accepts the special autonomy status or not. This relates to the issue of the unitary territory of Indonesia. GOJ consistently supports the unitary territory of Indonesia as other Western countries do. In addition, the placement of weapons is another big point of the issue, and we understand that dialogue has taken place on this matter.