Documents: Japan’s Major Foreign Policy Statements (2017)[Japan-U.S.] Joint Statement *February 10, 2017

President Donald J. Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held their first official meeting
today in Washington D.C. and affirmed their strong determination to further strengthen the U.S.Japan Alliance and economic relationship.

U.S.-Japan Alliance
The unshakable U.S.-Japan Alliance is the cornerstone of peace, prosperity, and freedom
in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. commitment to defend Japan through the full range of
U.S. military capabilities, both nuclear and conventional, is unwavering. Amid an increasingly
difficult security environment in the Asia-Pacific region, the United States will strengthen its
presence in the region, and Japan will assume larger roles and responsibilities in the alliance.
The United States and Japan will continue to implement and expand defense cooperation as laidout in the 2015 U.S.-Japan Defense Guidelines. The United States and Japan will further enhancecooperation with allies and partners in the region. The two leaders underscored the importanceof maintaining international order based upon the rule of law.
The two leaders affirmed the commitment of the United States and Japan to the realignmentof U.S. forces in Japan, to ensure the long-term, sustainable presence of U.S. forces. They
affirmed that the United States and Japan are committed to the plan to construct the Futenma
Replacement Facility at the Camp Schwab/Henoko area and in adjacent waters. It is the only
solution that avoids the continued use of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.
The two leaders affirmed that Article V of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and
Security covers the Senkaku Islands. They oppose any unilateral action that seeks to undermine
Japan's administration of these islands. The United States and Japan will deepen cooperation
to safeguard the peace and stability of the East China Sea. The two leaders underscored theimportance of maintaining a maritime order based on international law, including freedom ofnavigation and overflight and other lawful uses of the sea. The United States and Japan oppose
any attempt to assert maritime claims through the use of intimidation, coercion or force. The
United States and Japan also call on countries concerned to avoid actions that would escalate
tensions in the South China Sea, including the militarization of outposts, and to act in accordancewith international law.
The United States and Japan strongly urge North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic
missile programs and not to take any further provocative actions. The U.S.-Japan Alliance is fully
capable of ensuring the security of Japan. The United States is fully committed to defending its
homeland, forces, and allies, through the full range of U.S. military capabilities. The two leaders*

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51Japan Review Vol.1 No.2 Winter 2017

Documents: Japan’s Major Foreign Policy Statements (2017)affirmed the importance of an early resolution of the abductions issue. They also affirmed theimportance of trilateral cooperation among the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
The United States and Japan are also committed to rigorous implementation of the U.N. Security
Council resolutions on North Korea.
The United States and Japan will strengthen their bilateral technological cooperation on
defense innovation to meet the evolving security challenges. The United States and Japan will
also expand bilateral security cooperation in the fields of space and cyberspace. The United States
and Japan also strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and manifestations and will enhance ourcooperation to fight against terrorist groups that pose a global threat.
The two leaders instructed their foreign and defense ministers to convene a Security
Consultative Committee (SCC: “2+2”) meeting to identify ways to further strengthen the U.S.-Japan
Alliance, including through the review of the respective roles, missions, and capabilities of thetwo countries.

U.S.-Japan Economic Relations

The United States and Japan represent 30 percent of the worldʼs GDP and share an interest in
sustaining a strong global economy, ensuring financial stability, and growing job opportunities. To
advance these interests, the President and the Prime Minister reaffirmed their commitments tousing the three-pronged approach of mutually-reinforcing fiscal, monetary, and structural policies
to strengthen domestic and global economic demand.
The two leaders discussed opportunities and challenges facing each of their economies andthe need to promote inclusive growth and prosperity in their countries, the Asia-Pacific region,and the world. They emphasized that they remain fully committed to strengthening the economic
relationships between their two countries and across the region, based on rules for free and fairtrade. This will include setting high trade and investment standards, reducing market barriers,
and enhancing opportunities for economic and job growth in the Asia-Pacific.
The United States and Japan reaffirmed the importance of both deepening their trade andinvestment relations and of their continued efforts in promoting trade, economic growth, andhigh standards throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Toward this end, and noting that the UnitedStates has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the leaders pledged to explore how best
to accomplish these shared objectives. This will include discussions between the United States
and Japan on a bilateral framework as well as Japan continuing to advance regional progress on
the basis of existing initiatives.
In addition, the two leaders expressed interest in exploring cooperation across sectors that
promote mutual economic benefits to the United States and Japan.
The two leaders decided to have their countries engage in an economic dialogue to discussthese and other issues. They also reaffirmed their intent to continue cooperation in regional andglobal fora.

Invitations to Visit Japan
Prime Minister Abe invited President Trump for an official visit to Japan during the course ofthis year, and also welcomed an early visit of Vice President Pence to Tokyo. President Trump
accepted these invitations.

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24th Japan-EU Summit Joint Statement *Brussels, 6 July 2017
Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Donald Tusk, President of the European
Council and Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels
today for the 24th Summit between Japan and the European Union (EU) and issued the following
statement:"We, the leaders of Japan and the EU, met today in Brussels to reaf firm the strength of ourStrategic Partnership and to demonstrate our resolve to work together for peace, prosperity and arules-based international order. We remain united by our common values of democracy and the ruleof law and by our determination to promote together an open and fair global economy that benefits
everyone. These are the foundations of our political and economic Strategic Partnership for peace,
prosperity and a rules-based international order – serving to unite us bilaterally and also to make us
stronger internationally.
Today marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Strategic Partnership between Japan andthe EU as we celebrate the agreement in principle of the Economic Partnership Agreement and theStrategic Partnership Agreement at political level.
The highly ambitious and comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement will consolidate oursolid and evolving trade and economic partnership and pave the way for the future. It will bring our
two economies closer by addressing issues related to market access for goods, services and investment,
procurement including railways, as well as those related to non-tariff measures and the protection ofgeographical indications as well as intellectual property rights. This agreement will allow us to renew
and strengthen our joint commitment to international standards for an even closer cooperation in the
future. At the same time, with this agreement in principle of the Economic Partnership Agreement,
Japan and Europe demonstrate to the world - and to our citizens - that free trade, with clear andtransparent rules fully respecting and enhancing our values, remains an important tool to promote
prosperity in our societies. The Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement will constitute the basis
for a strategic partnership for free and fair trade, against protectionism.
We tasked our respective negotiating teams with a rapid finalisation of the agreement that would
allow for the internal procedures to start soon, both in Japan and the EU.
With shared responsibility for achieving peace, stability and prosperity of the world, Japan and theEU also reached agreement in principle of theStrategic Partnership Agreement. This will provide a framework for an even deeper and morestrategic Japan-EU cooperation that enables our partnership to grow and to face new types ofchallenges.
At a time where the rules-based international order is under increasing pressure, the Economic
Partnership Agreement and the Strategic Partnership Agreement recapture the shared values andcommon principles that form the foundation of the Japan-EU partnership, including human rights,
democracy and the rule of law.
We took the opportunity before attending the G20 Hamburg Summit tomorrow to discuss ourcooperation in other important areas, including on our joint efforts to address the global threat ofclimate change and other international challenges."*

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Documents: Japan’s Major Foreign Policy Statements (2017)

Japan-UK Joint Vision Statement *Japan and the UK are global strategic partners, sharing common interests as outward-looking
and free-trading island nations with a global reach, committed to the rules-based international
system. We share the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the ruleof law. Building on our historic ties, we have today committed to elevating our security andprosperity partnership to the next level, focusing on the following areas.

Ensuring International Security

Japan and the UK are each otherʼs closest security partners in Asia and Europe respectively,
and security and defence is a cornerstone of our relationship. We strongly oppose any unilateral
actions that seek to increase tension or change the status quo by force or coercion. In light ofsuch serious challenges, including the unprecedented threat posed by North Korea, we arecommitted to elevating our security cooperation to the next level, and to tackling our sharedchallenges together globally, and particularly in the Indo-Pacific region.
That is why today we have issued the “Japan-UK Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation” toenhance our coordinated response to challenges to the rules-based international system, throughour increased security and defence cooperation in such areas as joint defence forces exercises,
defence equipment and technology, capacity- building of developing countries, cyber security,
space, countering terrorism and violent extremism internationally, including aviation security, andcombating serious and organised crime, including modern slavery. To support this, Japan andthe UK will build on the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and, as a priority,
work on a framework to improve administrative, policy and legal procedures to facilitate joint
operations and exercises.
We will cooperate to ensure the security and success of the Rugby World Cup 2019 andOlympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020, building upon the recent experience of the UK in
hosting such major international events.

Enhancing Economic PartnershipJapan and the UK are among the strongest global champions of free trade. It is more
important now than ever that we work together to promote rules-based free and fair trade, for the
benefit of our own people and economies, and in support of global prosperity.
Building on our strong existing bilateral trade and investment relationship, we have today
decided to enhance Ministerial engagement to realise our shared long-term vision to deepen ourbilateral prosperity relationship. We have set out how we will achieve this shared ambition in our“Japan-UK Joint Declaration on Prosperity Cooperation”.
We will continue to champion the early signature and entr y into force of the Japan-EU
Economic Partnership Agreement. This will be our immediate priority. As the UK exits the EU,
we will work quickly to establish a new economic partnership between Japan and the UK basedon the final terms of the EPA.
The UK is clear that it wants a smooth and orderly transition to its new relationship with the
EU and our key partners, including Japan.
The UK welcomes the many high value and high profile Japanese investments in the UK, andwill work closely with Japanese business and government to build on these investments in future.

Promoting Innovation and Growth
Our vision for a deepened prosperity partnership will also harness our shared strengths in*

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54Japan Review Vol.1 No.2 Winter 2017

innovation, to deliver world-leading economies and societies that work for all in the 21st Century.
We will drive industrial productivity, lead the worldʼs digital economy, build on our strategic
partnership in the civil nuclear energy area, show the way for clean energy, and promote quality
infrastructure with open and fair access for enhanced regional connectivity, as well as pioneer andshare new approaches to demographic and health challenges, and ensuring gender equality.
We will also work together to tackle shared global challenges, including achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals. We are committed to the Paris Agreement on climate change
adopted at COP21 in 2015. We are determined to increase collaboration between our world-classresearch and development institutions.
Japan and the UK are committed to delivering on the above through our elevated security andprosperity partnership.
Tokyo, 31 August, 2017
Mr. Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister of JapanRt Hon Theresa May
Prime Minister of the UK

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Documents: Japan’s Major Foreign Policy Statements (2017)

Japan-India Joint Statement *Toward a Free, Open and Prosperous Indo-Pacific
H.E. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan is paying an official visit to India from 13 September
to 14 September, 2017 at the invitation of H.E. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. On 14
September, the two Prime Ministers held strategic discussions on a wide range of issues under
the Special Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries.
1. The two Prime Ministers welcomed significant deepening of bilateral relations in the past
three years and the growing convergence in the political, economic and strategic interests, basedon the firm foundation of common values and traditions, as well as on an emerging consensus
on contemporary issues of peace, security and development. They decided to work together toelevate their partnership to the next level to advance common strategic objectives at a time when
the global community is faced with new challenges.
2. The two Prime Ministers affirmed strong commitment to their values-based partnership inachieving a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region where sovereignty and internationallaw are respected, and differences are resolved through dialogue, and where all countries, large
or small, enjoy freedom of navigation and overflight, sustainable development, and a free, fair, andopen trade and investment system.
3. The two Prime Ministers underlined that India and Japan could play a central role insafeguarding and strengthening such a rules-based order. To this end, they pledged to reinforce
their efforts to:- align Japanʼs Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy with Indiaʼs Act East Policy, including
through enhancing maritime security cooperation, improving connectivity in the wider IndoPacific region, strengthening cooperation with ASEAN, and promoting discussions between
strategists and experts of the two countries;- enhance defence and security cooperation and dialogues, including the MALABAR and otherjoint exercises, defence equipment and technology cooperation in such areas as surveillance andunmanned system technologies, and defence industry cooperation.
- ensure par tnerships for prosperity through the Japan-India Investment Promotion
Par tnership, speedy implementation of key infrastructure projects including the Mumbai
Ahmedabad High Speed Railway (MAHSR), and advancing cooperation in the fields of energy,
smart cities, information and communication technology, space, science and technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and health.
- strengthen people-to-people and cultural ties through enhanced Japanese language teachingin India and collaboration in the fields of tourism, civil aviation, higher education, women ʼs
education, skills development and sports;- work together on global challenges such as proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction(WMDs), terrorism, space and cyber security, United Nations Security Council (UNSC) reform,
climate change and environment;- strengthen trilateral cooperation frameworks with the United States, Australia and othercountries.

*

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Reinforcing Defence and Security Cooperation
Para.4 through 9

Working Together for a Better Connected World
Para.10 through 14

Partnership for prosperity
Para.15 through 47

Working with Partners on Regional and Global Challenges
Para.48 through 60

Conclusion
Prime Minister Abe thanked the Government and the people of India for their warm
hospitality and extended a cordial invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit Japan at a mutuallyconvenient time for the next annual summit meeting. Prime Minister Modi accepted the invitation
with appreciation.
Prime Minister of Japan

Prime Minister of the Republic of India

Signed at Gandhinagar, Gujarat on 14 September 201757
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Documents: Japan’s Major Foreign Policy Statements (2017)

Address by Prime Minister Shinzo Abeat the Seventy-Second Session of the United Nations General Assembly *September 20, 2017
New York
1.
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen,
Today, I had intended first of all to tell you of the sincerity with which Japan is implementing the
SDGs. I also had hoped to introduce to you the innovative ways by which we have been fostering
public awareness within Japan towards those goals.
I wanted to tell you why the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, or “We-Fi,” is important tome personally as well as to the Government of Japan.
I have been saying we will make universal health coverage part of the “Japan brand.” We will holda major conference this December in Tokyo taking up UHC as the theme.
The list of things I would have liked to raise here is long indeed -- our contributions towards therule of law; our determination to undertake the Paris Agreement in a steadfast manner; our policyof addressing global infrastructure demand through quality investments.
Moreover, what Japan wants to safeguard in every respect is the free, liberal, open international
order and multilateral frameworks.
The world certainly holds high expectations towards the UN as the flagbearer upholding these.
That is exactly why the Security Council should be reformed without delay, in response to thedemands of the times.
Japan will strive together with its friends to achieve these reforms. I had intended to state thatJapanʼs abiding determination is to play an active role for world peace as a permanent member of
the Security Council.
However, I have no choice but to focus my remarks on a single issue, that of North Korea.

2.
North Korea conducted a nuclear test on September the 3rd. Whether or not it was a hydrogenbomb test, its scale far exceeded that of previous tests.
Both before and after that, on August 29, and again on September 15 before the ink on Resolution
2375, passed by the Security Council to impose sanctions on North Korea, was even dry, North
Korea launched missiles.
Both of these were launched to fly over Japan and make a display of their cruising range.
The gravity of this threat is unprecedented. It is indisputably a matter of urgency.
North Korea is attempting to dismiss with a smirk the efforts towards disarmament we haveassiduously undertaken over the years.
The non-proliferation regime is about to suffer a serious blow from its most confident disrupter
ever.
Mr. President, distinguished colleagues,This recent crisis is of an altogether different dimension qualitatively than those we have eluded
every time some dictator has attempted to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
North Koreaʼs nuclear weapons either already are, or are on the verge of becoming, hydrogenbombs.
Their means of delivery will sooner or later be ICBMs. Over the more than 20 years since theend of the Cold War, where and when else, and to what dictators, have we allowed such self*

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58Japan Review Vol.1 No.2 Winter 2017indulgence? As it turns out, it is only towards North Korea that this has been allowed.
That is the reality we find before us.
And, it was absolutely not a lack of dialogue that gave rise to this situation.

3.
Dialogue dissuaded North Korea from pursuing its nuclear ambitions. Dialogue has afforded
many of us the relief that the world had been saved from a crisis. Believing thus, many of us havefelt relieved, well, not just once, but twice.
The first time was in the early 1990s.
At the time, the threat that North Korea imposed amounted to little more than openly displaying
its withdrawal from the IAEA and other inspection regimes.
However, tensions were felt by those of us who surmised the intent of that.
After many twists and turns, in October 1994, what is known as the “Agreed Framework” wasrealized between the U.S. and North Korea.
Under the framework, North Korea would be made to abandon its nuclear plans. In exchange, wewould provide incentives to North Korea.
Towards that end, Japan, the U.S., and the ROK formed the Korean Peninsula Energy
Development Organization, or “KEDO,” in March the following year.
Taking KEDO as the implementing agent, we pledged to build and hand over two light-water
reactors (LWRs) to North Korea and also provide 500 thousand tons of heavy fuel oil annually as
a stopgap measure for its energy demand.
This was all carried out accordingly. However, as time went by, it came to be known that North
Korea had been continuing steadily with its uranium enrichment.
From the start, North Korea had never intended to abandon its nuclear ambitions. This had
become readily apparent to all.
After 2002, seven years after it was founded, KEDO suspended its operations.
During that period, it can be said that North Korea defrauded the U.S., the ROK, and Japan ofassistance.
Countries that recognized value in the KEDO framework of providing incentives to change North
Koreaʼs actions gradually came to join KEDO -- the European Union, New Zealand, Australia,
Canada, Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Poland, the Czech Republic and Uzbekistan.
North Korea betrayed the good faith of all those KEDO members.
As one of the organizationʼs founding members, Japan had pledged to give a non-interest loan to
KEDO and had fulfilled roughly 40 percent of that.
The pledged amount was 1 billion US dollars, with about 400 million fulfilled.

4.
The second crisis occurred in 2002 when KEDO suspended its operations and North Korea,
saying it would end the freeze on its nuclear-related facilities, expelled IAEA inspectors.
The concern was again that North Korea was continuing its uranium enrichment. And again wechose the path of defusing the situation through dialogue.
North Korea, China, and Russia joined the three founding members of KEDO, Japan, the U.S.,
and the ROK, to launch the Six-Party Talks. That was in August 2003.
Subsequently, after two years of twists and turns, through the summer of 2005 into the fall, theSix Parties once reached an agreement, resulting in the release of a joint statement.
North Korea committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs andreturning to the NPT and to IAEA safeguards.
Moreover, two years after that, in February 2007, an agreement was concluded regarding what
each of the Six Parties should do towards implementing the joint statement.
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A group of IAEA inspectors that had entered North Korea verified the shutdown of the nuclearrelated facilities in Yongbyon, and in return, North Korea received heavy fuel oil.
The series of events made people think that tenaciously continuing dialogue had this time finallycaused North Korea to change its actions.
But what actually happened?
In February 2005, while the Six-Party Talks were underway, North Korea declared unilaterallythat it was already in possession of nuclear weapons. Moreover, in October 2006, it openly carriedout its first nuclear test.
Its second nuclear test was in 2009. Ultimately that same year, North Korea announced its
withdrawal from the Six-Party Talks, stating it will “never again take part in such talks.”
Furthermore, around this time it was firing ballistic missiles on a repeated basis.

5.
Mr. President, distinguished colleagues,
Over the course of more than a decade beginning in 1994, the international community continued
its efforts towards dialogue with North Korea with great perseverance, first through the Agreed
Framework, and later through the Six-Party Talks.
However, what we had to learn is that during the time this dialogue continued, North Korea had
no intention whatsoever of abandoning its nuclear or missile development.
For North Korea, dialogue was instead the best means of deceiving us and buying time.
More than anything else, the following fact demonstrates that.
In 1994, North Korea had no nuclear weapons and even its ballistic missile technology was far
from mature. Yet it is now working to attain hydrogen bombs and ICBMs.
Again and again, attempts to resolve issues through dialogue have all come to naught.
In what hope of success are we now repeating the very same failure a third time?
We must make North Korea abandon all nuclear and ballistic missile programs in a complete,verifiable, and irreversible manner.
What is needed to do that is not dialogue, but pressure.

6.
Mr. President, distinguished colleagues,
On November 15, already 40 years will have passed since a 13-year-old girl named Megumi
Yokota was abducted by North Korea.
Megumi and many other Japanese remain abducted in North Korea even to this day.
I will continue to do all possible efforts so they can set foot on Japan's soil as soon as possible,
until the day when they will finally be in the arms of their parents, and their family members.
Japan will face up to North Koreaʼs nuclear and missile threat through the Japan-U.S. Alliance andthrough Japan, the U.S. and the ROK acting in unity.
We consistently support the stance of the United States: that “all options are on the table.”Also, I appreciate the unanimous adoption by the Security Council of UNSC Resolution 2375 on
September 11, which imposes strict sanctions against North Korea.
That clarified our intention to further intensify pressure on North Korea in order to force it toundertake a fundamental change in its path forward.
But I must make an appeal to you.
North Korea has already demonstrated its disregard of the resolution by launching yet anothermissile.
The resolution is nothing more than the beginning.
We must prevent the goods, funds, people, and technology necessary for nuclear and missile
development from heading to North Korea.
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We must make North Korea comply fully with the repeated resolutions.
We must ensure the strict and full implementation of the series of Security Council resolutions by
all UN member nations.
What is necessary is action.
Whether or not we can put an end to the provocations by North Korea is dependent upon thesolidarity of the international community.
There is not much time left.

7.
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen,
North Korea is in a truly fortunate location, adjoining the growth region of Asia and the Pacific. It
has an industrious labor force as well as underground resources.
If it were to make use of those, there could be a path towards North Korea dramatically growing
its economy and improving public welfare.
That is where North Koreaʼs bright future lies.
By failing to resolve the abduction, nuclear weapons and missiles issues, and by becoming athreat to all humanity, there is absolutely no future that North Korea can open up for itself.
In order to change North Korea's policies, we must strengthen our unity.
Thank you very much.

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