Japan

Monday, 28 December 2009 12:10

Major Facts

Statistics: Bilitaral Trade: 341.8 million dollars (2008-09 fiscal year) 6th largest trading partner Investment: Grants: 992 million yen (2003 Fiscal Year) Technical Cooperation: 1.65 billion yen (2003 Fiscal Year)
Japan provided 1.18 billion yen ($13.13 million) in grant aid and 1.64 billion yen in technical assistance to Myanmar.
Between 1999 and 2006, it provided Burma with more than US $2.96 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA)
Communiqués:
Policy reports:

Latest News:

17 Dec 2009 - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso agreed to accept 30 Burmese refugees to Japan in the fiscal year 2010.

24 July 2009 - Japanese police arrested a Tokyo trader on suspicion of illegally exporting a machine that can be used for developing missiles to Rangoon.

29 June 2009 - Japanese police arrested three top businessmen on suspicion of attempting to export to Burma a measuring instrument that could be used to develop long-range ballistic missile systems. According to the police, the three conspired to export the magnetic measuring device to Burma via Malaysia around January 2009 at a price of about 7 million yen (US $73,000)

7 May 2009 - The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) donated fishery equipment worth 120,463 USD for cyclone survivors to use in fishery recovery work in storm-hit areas in the country

Recent Activities:

Japan embassy officials in Rangoon held a meeting with Win Tin, an executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy.

Background

Diplomatic relations since: November 1954
Burma Policy: constructive engagement, aid, trade, urge SPDC to release ASSK and other political prisoners before elections in 2010, sanctions counterproductive
Major issues:

AID
Trade and investment

Japan has significant leverage over the Burmese government from its economic influence through aid and trade. Official recognition and the resumption of previously agreed upon aid payments were synchronically keyed to the specification in 1989 of multiparty elections plans and the months prior to the release of ASSK in 1995 (Japanese foreign ministry was the first to be notified of her release). Although it believes in engaging closely with the regime and that sanctions are counter-productive, Japan is firm on the point that power should be given to civilian government sooner rather than later. Nevertheless division between foreign ministry and MITI (ministry of trade and industry) have been noted.

Statements

17 Jan 2010 - Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from Asia and Latin America and offered more aid if a free election were held and Aung San Suu Kyi is freed.
8 Nov 2009 - Hatoyama told Thein Sein Tokyo is willing to provide more aid if democratic reforms in Burma are advanced engagement and dialogue to push for democratisation of the authoritarian military-run state, and welcomed Washington's recent move, saying it was getting closer to Tokyo's approach.
12 Feb 2009 - The joint-statement issued by Gambari and Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said they agreed to encourage the Burmese junta to hold general elections in 2010 in a form that could be accepted by the international community.
2-3 Oct 2009 Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has asked Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, before the poll.

in 2002 Former Prime Minister Koizumi had a phone conversation with Suu Kyi when she was released from house arrest in 2002.

Major Deals and Cooperation

Joint meetings of the economic cooperation committees of the Union of Myanmar Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) and Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (JCCI)

1988	Suspension of ODA, which constituted 70% of the country’s total.
1990	Japanese grant of 3.5 billion yen (US$23.5 million) Cancelling principle and interest charges on loans made before 1988. this was the second instalment of an earlier agreement.
1995	Lifted the freeze on humanitarian assistance after the release of ASSK. One billion yen grant for humanitarian assistance
May 1995	4 billion yen debt-relief grant
July 1995	Underwrite investments of less than one billion yen by Japanese companies
February 1998	Debt relief grants of 2billion yen
11 march 1998	2.5 billion yen loan to carry out maintenance and reapir of deteriorating infrastructure at the Yangon International Airport.
May 1998	Another 2 billion yen
September 1998	further 2 billion yen
July 1998	Japanese ambassador to Yangon signed an agreement to provide a grant worth 800million yen to purchase fertilisers and agricultural machinery.
December 1998	Donated US$0.46million worth of oral polio vaccine for maynmar’s national immunization programme
Spring 2001	Provided 3.5.billion yen (US$28 million) for repairing the Baluchaung hydroelectric generating facility in Kayah State, a project originally built with japans aid in the 1960s.

High Level Visits

October 1995	SLORC Vice-Chairman Maung Aye visited Japan to talk to Marubeni, Mitsubishi and Mitsui
November 1995	Foreign Minister Ohn Kyaw visited Japan
November 1996	Foreign Minister Ohn Kyaw visited Japan
October 1997	State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura
June 1998	Deputy Prime Minister, Vice Admiral Maung Maung Khin visit to Japan
June 1999	Minister for Foreign Affairs, U Win Aung
November 1999	Keizo Obuchi first Japanese premier in fifteen years to meet his Myanmar counterpart when talks were held with General Than Shwe during the ASEAN summit in Manila. Mr Obuchi reportedly told the Myanmar leader that Japan was ready to support the regime if it reformed the economy and undertook dialogue with the opposition.
1999	Japanese Premier’s senior foreign policy adviser and former premier, Ryutaro Hashimoto followed the Premier’s talks up with a four-day unofficial visit to Myanmar. During the visit, Hashimoto reportedly criticized the sanctions policy of the United States and Europe. Sanctions, he argued, only served to "drive the Burmese leadership into a corner and make it more and more obstinate". The former premier expressed hope that continued bilateral talks with the country's leaders would eventually lead to changes in the military government. At about the same time as Mr Hashimoto's visit, a forty-eight-member delegation from the Keidanren business organization (backed by ruling LDP party) was also in Myanmar.
June 2000	Secretary 1 of the State Peace and Development Council, General Khin Nyunt visit to Japan
August 5, 2002	Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi three-day visit to Rangoon met with Sr-Gen Than Shwe, Khin Nyunt and Suu Kyi. Kawaguchi is the highest-ranking government official from an industrialized nation to meet with Suu Kyi since being freed in May, and the first Japanese foreign minister to come to Burma in nearly 20 years.
Oct. 2002	Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi
November 2002	Than Shwe met Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi at the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh
Jun. 2003	Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Tetsuro Yano
July 2003	Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, U Khin Maung Win
December 2003	PM Khin Nyunt attended Japan ASEAN talks
December 2003	Minister for Foreign Affairs, U Win Aung
May 2005	Minister for Foreign Affairs, U Nyan Win
25 May 2009	Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar U Nyan Win in Vietnam http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2009/5/1192306_1134.html
20-? Aug 2009	A Burmese delegation led by the Secretary of the pro-junta civil organisation – the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – and Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Htay Oo paid a good will visit to Japan on invitation from the Foreign Minister Nakasone. He met meet Japanese opposition Members of Parliament from the DPJ, the Japanese Foreign Minister and Deputy Agriculture Minister.
2-3 Oct 2009	Foreign Minister Nyan Win met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Cambodia on the sidelines of the Mekong-Japan foreign minister's meeting and said that Suu Kyi would be released before her current 18-month house arrest term expires depending on her actions. He called on Burma’s ruling regime to ensure that an election slated for next year is fair and transparent and includes all stakeholders.
7 November 2009	Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama met Myanmar's visiting prime minister Thein Sein on the sidelines of the Japan-Mekong summit meeting. The PM urged the Burmese government to release ASSK and other political prisoners before next year’s elections
22 December 2009	Japanese Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroyuki Ishige visited Burma and was received by Prime Minister General Thein Sein
17 Jan 2010	Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from Asia and Latin America and offered more aid if a free election were held and Aung San Suu Kyi is freed.
16 Feb 2010	Japanese delegation led by Chairman Mr Unno Tohru of Myanmar Friendship Association of Shizuoka province, Japan called on Vice-Presidents U Zaw Min Win and U Tun Aung of Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry
15 June 2010	Deputy Minister for Health Dr Paing Soe received General Manager Mr Kiyoyoshi Katagiri of Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. They discussed matters on providing teaching aids to Universities of Medicine under the Ministry of Health.
26 Aug 2010	A five-member delegation of Japan- Myanmar Friendship Parliamentarian League led by former Member of the House of Councillors of Japan Mr Hideo Watanabe called on Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation U Htay Oo
7 Sept 2010	Minister for Industry-2 U Soe Thein received five Japanese MPs led by former member of House of Councillors of Japan as well as President of the Myanmar-Japan Friendship Association Mr Hideo Watanabe at his office. The two sides held talks about industrial development and technology assistance.

EVENT TRACKER

2010.11.07	International	Japan	Toru Yamaji, 49, a reporter with the Tokyo-based APF news agency was detained for three days
2010.10.29	International	ASEAN + Japan	Japan and the five South-East Asian countries on the Mekong River issued a joint statement Friday calling for free and fair elections in Myanmar.
2010.10.20	International + Exile	Japan	The Burmese embassy in Tokyo took advanced votes from citizens in Japan for the November 7 general election yesterday, amid street protests urging a poll boycott.
2010.09.07	International	Japan	Minister for Industry-2 U Soe Thein received five Japanese MPs led by former member of House of Councillors of Japan as well as President of the Myanmar-Japan Friendship Association Mr Hideo Watanabe at his office. The two sides held talks about industrial development and technology assistance.
2010.08.26	International	Japan	A five-member delegation of Japan- Myanmar Friendship Parliamentarian League led by former Member of the House of Councillors of Japan Mr Hideo Watanabe called on Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation U Htay Oo
2010.06.28	International	Japan	A “People’s Court” in Japan passed its verdict to put the Burmese military regime on trial at the International Criminal Court for its crimes against women in Burma.
2010.06.15	International	Japan	Deputy Minister for Health Dr Paing Soe received General Manager Mr Kiyoyoshi Katagiri of Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. They discussed matters on providing teaching aids to Universities of Medicine under the Ministry of Health.
2010.06.12	International	Japan	Japanese Government and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) donated three chemical fires suits and 50 sets of breathing apparatus to Fire Services Department of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement in a ceremony held at the department headquarters
2010.05.01	International	Japan	Two Japanese companies have reached respective contract agreements with Burma's power authorities to provide related services to a hydropower project in the country
2010.04.21	International	Japan + Singapore	Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada agreed in a meeting that upcoming elections in Burma must be transparent, free and fair.
2010.04.19	International	Japan + Malaysia	Japan and Malaysia urged Burma to hold 'free, fair and inclusive' general elections during Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's visit to Tokyo
2010.03.26	International	Japan	Japan is due to raise Burma‘s current political situation on the sidelines of the G-8 foreign ministerial meeting in Canada said Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada at a press conference. He warned that Japan will not expand its economic aid to Burma if pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is still barred from the election which due to take place this year. He said that he had made Tokyo's stance clear to Burmese ambassador Hla Myint.
2010.02.16	International	Japan	Japanese delegation led by Chairman Mr Unno Tohru of Myanmar Friendship Association of Shizuoka province, Japan called on Vice-Presidents U Zaw Min Win and U Tun Aung of Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry
2010.01.28	International	Japan	A three-member Myanmar delegation led by Joint General Secretary Dr. Myo Thet of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry attended the AOTS Training Program on Functional Enhancement for Chambers of Commerce held in Tokyo, Japan
2010.01.17	Government + International	SPDC + Japan	Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada met Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers from Asia and Latin America and offered more aid if a free election were held and Aung San Suu Kyi is freed.
2009.12.18	International	Japan	Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso agreed to accept 30 Burmese refugees to Japan in the fiscal year 2010.
2009.11.07	International	Japan	Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama meets PM Thein Sein on the sidelines of Mekong-Japan Summit, offering more aid if it releases political prisoners, namely Aung San Suu Kyi, and resumes dialogue with the opposition.
2009.10.2-3	Government + International	SPDC + Japan	Foreign Minister Nyan Win met with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in Cambodia on the sidelines of the Mekong-Japan foreign minister's meeting and said that Suu Kyi would be released before her current 18-month house arrest term expires depending on her actions. He called on Burma’s ruling regime to ensure that an election slated for next year is fair and transparent and includes all stakeholders.
2009.08.20-?	Government + International	USDA + Japan	A Burmese delegation led by the Secretary of the pro-junta civil organisation – the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) – and Agriculture and Irrigation Minister Htay Oo paid a good will visit to Japan on invitation from the Foreign Minister Nakasone. He met meet Japanese opposition Members of Parliament from the DPJ, the Japanese Foreign Minister and Deputy Agriculture Minister.
2009.07.24	International	Japan	Japanese police arrested a Tokyo trader on suspicion of illegally exporting a machine that can be used for developing missiles to Rangoon.
2009.06.29	International	Japan	Japanese police arrested three top businessmen on suspicion of attempting to export to Burma a measuring instrument that could be used to develop long-range ballistic missile systems. According to the police, the three conspired to export the magnetic measuring device to Burma via Malaysia around January 2009 at a price of about 7 million yen (US $73,000)
2009.06.19	International	Japan	The Japanese government provided 4 million U.S. dollars' aid for carrying out water supply and sanitary projects in Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas
2009.06.10	International	Japan	At least 70 Japanese Parliamentarians urged the government to push for a six-party type of talks – a-la-North Korea – concerning Burma, inclusive of regional countries and China. The Parliamentarians say Japan must kick-start the process in order to ensure genuine change at a meeting led by the Union of Japanese Diet Members for the support of Democracy in Burma (GIREN)
2009.05.18	International	Japan	Nyan Win and his Japanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Hiro Fumi Nakasone, talked over the phone on May 18th, the first day of Aung San Suu Kyi's court hearing.
2009.05.07	International	Japan	The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) donated fishery equipment worth 120,463 USD for cyclone survivors to use in fishery recovery work in storm-hit areas in the country
2009.05.04	International	EU-Japan	Leaders of the EU and Japan, in a joint statement expressed hope that the Burmese regime would tackle the country’s severe political, structural and economic problems and foster a peaceful transition to a legitimate, democratic and civilian government without delay.
2009.03.16	International	Japan	Five Burmese military officials receive training on how to conduct an election in Japan as part of Japan's support to the junta’s seven-step roadmap to democracy.
2009.02.24	International	Japan	Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the release of 6,313 prisoners in Burma as “a positive step,” although it added that it would “take some time to get the whole picture of the release.”
2009.02.12	International	UN + Japan	The joint-statement issued by Gambari and Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said they agreed to encourage the Burmese junta to hold general elections in 2010 in a form that could be accepted by the international community.
2009.1	International	Japan	Japan embassy officials in Rangoon held a meeting with Win Tin, an executive member of the opposition National League for Democracy.

Last Updated on Monday, 29 November 2010 22:46