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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TOKYO 005671 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR E, P, EB, EAP/J, EAP/P, EAP/PD, PA; 
WHITE HOUSE/NSC/NEC; JUSTICE FOR STU CHEMTOB IN ANTI-TRUST DIVISION; 
TREASURY/OASIA/IMI/JAPAN; DEPT PASS USTR/PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE; 
SECDEF FOR JCS-J-5/JAPAN, 
DASD/ISA/EAPR/JAPAN; DEPT PASS ELECTRONICALLY TO USDA 
FAS/ITP FOR SCHROETER; PACOM HONOLULU FOR PUBLIC DIPLOMACY ADVISOR; 
CINCPAC FLT/PA/ COMNAVFORJAPAN/PA. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KMDR KPAO PGOV PINR ECON ELAB JA
 
SUBJECT: JAPANESE MORNING PRESS HIGHLIGHTS 12/28/07 
 
 
Index: 
 
1) Top headlines 
2) Editorials 
3) Prime Minister's daily schedule (Nikkei) 
 
Diet agenda: 
4) Deliberations on new antiterrorism special measures bill to 
restart after New Year's with ruling and opposition camps deadlocked 
in Upper House committee  (Yomiuri) 
5) Antiterrorism bill to allow refueling mission to continue in 
Indian Ocean will likely be enacted by Lower House override on Jan. 
11  (Nikkei) 
6) Upper House starts deliberations on Democratic Party of Japan's 
(DPJ) counterproposal bill to the ruling camp's antiterrorism bill 
(Sankei) 
7) Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura calls DPJ's proposed 
antiterrorism bill "impractical"  (Mainichi) 
8) DPJ to put off submission of censure motion against prime 
minister and resume battle with ruling camp in next regular Diet 
session  (Sankei) 
9) Foreign Minister Koumura clarifies government's stance on 
supporting ISAF activities in Afghanistan  (Yomiuri) 
10) Government's bill to provide relief to hepatitis victims will 
admit responsibility for the illness and seek to fully resolve the 
issue  (Sankei) 
 
11) Prime Minister Fukuda's biggest challenge in China visit will be 
find mutually beneficial solution to gas-field development issue in 
¶E. China Sea  (Asahi) 
 
12) Appointment of Yabunaka as new vice foreign minister may usher 
in a "Fukuda color" for Japan's diplomacy  (Mainichi) 
 
Post Kyoto Protocol: 
13) Japan to announce at Davos that it will support numerical 
targets for reduction of greenhouse gases  (Asahi) 
14) Government to strengthen efforts for agreement on global warming 
measures, based on country-specific reduction targets  (Tokyo 
Shimbun) 
 
Articles: 
 
1) TOP HEADLINES 
 
Asahi, Mainichi, Yomiuri, Sankei & Tokyo Shimbun: 
Former PM Bhutto assassinated in Pakistan 
 
Nikkei: 
JAL to ask banks, trading houses to buy preferred shares worth 100 
to 150 billion yen 
 
Akahata: 
Hepatitis C plaintiffs meet with JCP Chairman Shii 
 
2) EDITORIALS 
 
Asahi: 
(1) North Korea's nuclear weapons: Top priority should be on the 
North's declaration of all its nuclear activities 
(2) Efforts to streamline independent administrative institutions 
insufficient 
 
TOKYO 00005671  002 OF 010 
 
 
 
Mainichi: 
(1) ODA budget should be secured so that Japan can contribute to 
international community 
(2) Divided Diet can be resolved without forming a grand coalition 
 
Yomiuri: 
(1) A strenuous year for world news 
 
Nikkei: 
(1) Japan must carry out reforms 
(2) Don't stop education revitalization 
 
Sankei: 
(1) Is Social Insurance Agency serious about making clean start? 
(2) Tamiflu: We should be aware of medicines must 
 
Tokyo Shimbun: 
(1) Dispatch of day workers: Disposable workers cannot be accepted 
(2) DPJ's tax system outline: Fruitful Diet debate necessary 
 
Akahata: 
(1) Education revitalization panel report: No future for Abe-style 
"reform" 
 
3) Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) 
 
Prime Minister's schedule, December 26 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Full) 
December 27, 2007 
 
09:41 
Met with Natural Resources and Energy Agency Natural Resources and 
Fuel Department Director General Kitagawa at the Kantei. Then met 
with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Ono and Foreign Ministry Asian 
and Oceanian Affairs Bureau Director General Sasae. 
 
10:26 
Met with New Komeito head Ota, followed by Deputy Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Futahashi. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
11:29 
Met with Zhu Jianrong, representative of the Society of Chinese 
Professors in Japan. 
 
13:09 
Arrived at the official residence. 
 
14:20 
Left Haneda Airport by government plane to visit China. 
 
Evening (local time) 
 Arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport. Stayed overnight 
at Beijing Chang Fu Gong Center Hotel. 
 
4) New antiterror bill into next year 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Abridged) 
December 28, 2007 
 
The House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee 
 
TOKYO 00005671  003 OF 010 
 
 
yesterday ended its debate for the year on a new antiterror bill 
resuming the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling mission in the 
Indian Ocean. The committee's first meeting for the coming year is 
scheduled for Jan. 8. Prime Minister Fukuda will be present. The 
ruling coalition proposed winding up the committee's discussions on 
the bill and taking a vote on it that day. However, the leading 
opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) insisted on 
discussing its own bill presented as a counterproposal to the new 
antiterror bill. 
 
5) New antiterrorism bill may clear Diet on Jan. 11 
 
NIKKEI (Page 2) (Slightly abridged) 
December 28, 2007 
 
The ruling parties have now taken the offensive in managing Diet 
affairs. The ruling coalition-controlled House of Representatives is 
expected to take an override vote possibly on Jan. 11 on the special 
measures bill to resume the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling 
activities in the Indian Ocean which has been the main focus of 
attention in the current Diet session. The ruling bloc plans to 
submit to the next regular Diet session, at the outset, a bill 
temporarily maintaining the rate for revenue sources set aside for 
road construction, paving the way for taking a second vote on that 
bill before the end of March. It intends to observe how the 
opposition camp will act, while seeking to hold in check the main 
opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto). 
 
The House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, 
which has been deliberating on the government's new antiterrorism 
special measures bill, confirmed in a meeting yesterday of its 
directors a plan to hold a next session on Jan. 8. The committee is 
scheduled to summon Naoki Akiyama of the Japan-U.S. Peace and 
Cultural Exchange to testify as a Diet witness. In the session, the 
ruling coalition proposed putting the bill to a vote, but the DPJ 
rejected it. 
 
The Upper House, which is controlled by the opposition bloc, will 
likely take a vote on the bill in committee on Jan. 10 and the main 
vote in a plenary session on the 11th. The outlook is that once the 
bill is voted down in the Upper House, the ruling camp will readopt 
it with a two-thirds majority override vote in the House of 
Representatives even on the 11th, without holding a consultative 
meeting of both Diet chambers. 
 
The Upper House committee yesterday started debating a bill on 
Afghanistan aid measures submitted by the DPJ as a counterproposal 
to the government-sponsored bill to resume the MSDF refueling 
mission. DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa stressed in a press conference 
in the city of Kumamoto: 
 
"The government's interpretation of the Constitution and the way of 
its thinking of international contribution are fundamentally 
different from those of our party. Since the two different arguments 
are submitted to the Diet, I want the public to understand (the 
DPJ's bill)." 
 
The ruling camp will not budge an inch in deliberations on bills 
related to tax system reform, including road-connected ones, in the 
regular session to be convened in January. It decided yesterday in a 
meeting of its Diet affairs committee chiefs to submit the 
road-related bills earlier than the scheduled on in early January, 
 
TOKYO 00005671  004 OF 010 
 
 
aiming at priority on deliberations on those bills, along with a 
supplementary budget bill for fiscal 2007. 
 
6) Diet begins debate on DPJ's antiterror bill 
 
SANKEI (Page 5) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
The House of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in 
the Diet met yesterday and entered into debate on a bill presented 
by the leading opposition Democratic Party of Japan (Minshuto) as a 
counterproposal to a new antiterror bill introduced by the 
government to resume the Maritime Self-Defense Force's refueling 
activities in the Indian Ocean. The DPJ-presented bill is intended 
to assist Afghanistan with its reconstruction for the purpose of 
preventing and eradicating international terrorism. The committee's 
substantive discussions will be carried over to next year. However, 
the ruling bench will fast-track the new antiterror bill. 
 
The DPJ bill proposes sending Self-Defense Forces members and 
civilians to Afghanistan for humanitarian and reconstruction 
assistance and for public security reform. Specifically, it 
incorporates measures for Japan to engage SDF members and civilians 
in disarming, medical support, transportation, and other activities. 
Masayuki Naoshima, chairman of the DPJ's policy board, explained the 
bill before the committee. 
 
The DPJ bill says Japan will help the Afghan government create an 
agreement with Taliban and other armed groups to halt conflicts. 
Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura, however, criticized the DPJ bill, 
saying, "It's difficult and inappropriate for the Japanese 
government to promote and assist this." The DPJ bill also says 
Japan's humanitarian and reconstruction activities will be conducted 
in "non-combat zones" where civilians will not be affected. Koumura 
also said it would be difficult to specify such conflict-free areas 
for locals in Afghanistan. 
 
The committee, prior to its debate yesterday, held a meeting of its 
directors. In that meeting, the ruling parties proposed winding up 
the committee's discussions on the new antiterror law and take a 
vote on it on Jan. 8. However, the ruling and opposition parties 
failed to reach an agreement. 
 
7) Chief cabinet secretary: DPJ's new antiterror bill "is not 
realistic" 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
Ryuko Tadokoro 
 
The Upper House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense yesterday 
held its last meeting during the year, in which Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Nobutaka Machimura criticized the major opposition 
 
SIPDIS 
Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) counterproposal to the 
government-sponsored new antiterrorism special measures bill by 
noting: "The DPJ's bill gives the impression that the Self-Defense 
Forces (SDF) will be sent to a safe area but civilians will be sent 
to a dangerous area. This approach is not realistic." Machimura, who 
has usually taken the brunt of the opposition bloc's attack against 
the government's bill, now sarcastically said: "I want to take the 
floor as a questioner and ask those in the DPJ who drafted the 
 
TOKYO 00005671  005 OF 010 
 
 
bill." 
 
The DPJ's counterproposal is titled "a special measures bill aimed 
at preventing and eliminating international terrorism and helping 
Afghanistan to reconstruct itself". In the session yesterday, the 
DPJ gave an explanation of the bill and the debate on the bill 
began. The feature of the bill is that areas for the SDF to operate 
are limited to where a cease-fire agreement is signed or where the 
local residents will not suffer any harm. Foreign Minister Masahiko 
Koumura also pointed out: "It is unrealistic to assume that the 
Karzai government will make peace with the Taliban. It is also 
difficult to specify areas where residents will not suffer any 
harm." 
 
8) DPJ to put off introduction of censure motion against prime 
minister; Card to be preserved for regular Diet session 
 
SANKEI (Page 1) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ or Minshuto) yesterday decided 
not to introduce to the Upper House a censure motion against Prime 
Minister Yasuo Fukuda, a focus of attention in the extraordinary 
Diet session, as a countermeasure against the ruling camp's move to 
put the new antiterrorism special measures bill to a vote again in 
the Lower House. Its strategy is to corner Fukuda into a dissolution 
of the Lower House and a snap election by continuing its offensive 
into the regular Diet session regarding issues directly related to 
people's lives, such as pensions and the abolition of the 
provisional gasoline tax, which will lead to reductions in gasoline 
prices, by preserving the censure motion card. More than one DPJ 
official revealed this strategy. 
 
The government and the ruling parties are determined to have the new 
antiterror legislation enacted by putting it to a vote again in the 
Lower House during the current session, which is to end on Jan. 15, 
2008, if opposition parties vote down the legislation or carry it to 
the next session in the Upper House, where the opposition camp has a 
majority. 
 
Some DPJ members insisted on countering the ruling parties by 
introducing a censure motion. However, even if it is adopted in the 
Upper House, it is not legally binding, which would necessitate the 
opposition camp trying to corner the administration into a 
dissolution of the Lower House or resignation by resorting to a 
strategy of refusing to attend Diet deliberations after the prime 
minister has been censured. 
 
If opposition parties pass a censure motion coinciding with the 
passage of the legislation, they might lose public support, because 
they would have to stay away from Diet deliberations on the fiscal 
2008 budget bill starting in late January. The People's New Party, 
which has a joint parliamentary group with the DPJ, is also cautious 
about the idea of introducing a censure motion. However, if the 
ruling parties force through the introduction of related bills aimed 
at maintaining the provisional gasoline tax during the current Diet 
session or public support ratings for the cabinet dramatically drop, 
the DPJ would reconsider the possibility of introducing the censure 
motion at the end of the Diet session. 
 
9) ISAF complementary to police: Koumura 
 
 
TOKYO 00005671  006 OF 010 
 
 
YOMIURI (Page 4) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
Foreign Minister Koumura yesterday attended a meeting of the House 
of Councillors Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in which he 
explained the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) 
deployed to Afghanistan. "Based on the Afghan government's consent, 
the ISAF is complementarily undertaking some of Afghanistan's 
policing activities in order to recover or maintain public 
security." The government has so far taken the position that the 
Self-Defense Forces' participation in ISAF conflicts with the 
Constitution because the ISAF uses armed force. However, the 
government formally revised such a standpoint with the foreign 
minister's statement before the committee. 
 
10) Government's draft bill aimed at offering blanket relief to 
hepatitis C patients recognizes its responsibility for causing 
drug-induced infection; Ruling bloc intends to bring complete 
settlement to the case 
 
SANKEI (Page 1) (Excerpts) 
December 28, 2007 
 
The ruling bloc's project team that is drafting a bill aimed at 
offering blanket relief to those who were infected with hepatitis C 
via tainted blood products yesterday decided to include in the bill 
a phrase substantially admits the government's responsibility for 
causing drug-induced infection, a major point at issue so far. The 
plaintiffs suing the government and drug makers for drug-caused 
hepatitis C infection strongly demanded that the government 
acknowledge its responsibility for the infection. The ruling parties 
and the plaintiffs are to meet for final consultations today. The 
case of hepatitis C victims is now expected to be settled completely 
in five years after those victims brought the case to the court. 
 
According to an informed source, the bill in its preamble will 
include this passage: "The government admits its responsibility for 
damage the patients infected with hepatitis C suffer and failure to 
prevent the spread of the infection and offers a sincere apology to 
the hepatitis C victims. Although the passage does not use the 
wording "responsibility for the infection," what the passage implies 
would be understood by the plaintiffs. An insider in the ruling bloc 
commented: "Agreement has been reached in principle. The bill will 
take shape today." 
 
So far the government had admitted "its responsibility for the 
results" and "moral responsibility" to offer relief to the victims, 
but it had strongly refused to admit its "responsibility for the 
infection," in part because some local district courts' rulings said 
that there was no error in the government's pharmaceutical 
administration and primarily because if the government does so, that 
would have a significant impact on its pharmaceutical 
administration. 
 
Administrative Vice Health Minister Takeshi Erikawa told a press 
briefing yesterday: "Pharmaceuticals have both efficacy and 
side-effects. If the government recognizes its responsibility for 
the infection, it will become impossible to manufacture 
pharmaceuticals that will have side-effects." 
 
In response to those press remarks, the plaintiffs asserted; "The 
government should learn a lesson from this drug-caused infection 
 
TOKYO 00005671  007 OF 010 
 
 
case and on its responsibility, it should offer blanket relief to 
all the victims." 
 
11) Prime minister's major challenge in China is how to resolve 
gas-field development dispute in a mutually beneficial way 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Excerpts) 
December 28, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Fukuda arrived in Beijing for talks with Chinese 
government leaders last evening. Since former Prime Minister Abe 
visited that nation in October last year, which marked the first 
visit by a Japanese prime minister in five years, the two countries 
have successfully established the formula of reciprocal summit 
visits. A major challenge for Fukuda in this visit is to enhance 
what government officials call a mutually beneficial bilateral 
relationship based on common strategic interests, on which Abe 
agreed on when he visited China. As part of this challenge, how to 
resolve the dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China 
Sea is likely to be the touchstone of Fukuda's ability. 
 
Speaking before reporters, Fukuda indicated his eagerness to resolve 
this thorny issue, remarking: "It is desirable to settle the issue 
as soon as possible. This is a matter that involves another party, 
so if we talk, we will be able to reach an agreement." 
 
The spots cited for joint development are on the Japan-set median 
boundary line, which China has not recognized. This gap has made 
negotiations on the issue difficult. The dispute is sharpening 
mainly over how to treat the gas fields under development by China, 
including the Chunxiao (called Shirakaba by Japan) gas field; and 
what to do about funds and technical cooperation for joint 
development and how to treat products there. 
 
Japan: "It is unacceptable to include the area straddling the median 
line in our joint development plan." 
 
China: "We have not recognized and will never recognize the 
(Japan-claimed) median line." 
 
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that 
a state's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extends to a distance of 200 
nautical miles (about 370 kilometers) out from its coast. But since 
the distance between the Japanese and Chinese coastal baselines is 
short and their EEZs overlap, the two countries have yet to agree on 
a median line. Japan regards a line equidistant from both sides' 
coastal baselines as the median line, but China insists on the 
Okinawa Trough as the line. 
 
Even if both sides are eager to resolve the issue based on a 
political decision, they need to give careful consideration to 
domestic public opinion, because the issue is linked to the 
sovereignty issue. Depending on how the issue is settled, 
nationalism may well up. The domestic standing of the Fukuda 
administration, which was launched in September, remains weak, given 
that the opposition camp holds a majority in the House of 
Councillors. The government under President Hu Jintao was reshuffled 
at the Communist Party Convention in October, so its political 
footing is also still weak. A source familiar with Japan-China 
relations said: "Both sides must find it difficult to accept a risk 
that could deal a blow to them." 
 
 
TOKYO 00005671  008 OF 010 
 
 
Even so, moves are gaining momentum to resolve the gas-field 
development standoff in the upcoming meeting between Fukuda and Hu. 
In a meeting between Foreign Minister Koumura and his Chinese 
counterpart Yang Jiechi in Beijing on Dec. 1, both agreed that the 
two countries will make a political decision in an effort to resolve 
the issue by the time of Prime Minister Fukuda's visit to China. 
Afterward, China unofficially asked Japan for joint development on 
an area straddling the median line. As it stands, China has finally 
begun to "move forward." A Chinese source said: "This is a major 
concession for China." 
 
China, though, has indicated an unwillingness to accept Japan's 
proposal for jointly developing the gas fields now under development 
independently by China by investing funds, such as the Chunxiao gas 
field. 
 
12) Fukuda demonstrates his own diplomatic imprint with appointment 
of Yabunaka as vice foreign minister; Strong lineup to deal with 
DPRK 
 
MAINICHI (Page 5) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
Yudai Nakazawa 
 
The government will reshuffle major personnel in the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs (MOFA) after the extraordinary session of the Diet 
ends in mid-January. The reshuffle includes appointing Deputy 
Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka as administrative vice foreign 
minister, apparently reflecting the strong wishes of Prime Minister 
Yasuo Fukuda, who has made diplomacy his lifework. The new lineup of 
the key MOFA officials shows clearly Fukuda's unique diplomatic 
imprint that is quite different from that of his predecessor Shinzo 
Abe. 
 
When Fukuda served as chief cabinet secretary in the Koizumi 
administration, Yabunaka, along with then Deputy Foreign Minister 
Hitoshi Tanaka, conducted negotiations with North Korea. Fukuda has 
a strong faith in Yabunaka -- who at one point served as Japan's 
chief delegate to the six-party talks to discuss the North Korean 
nuclear issue -- for the steady way he gets the job done. 
 
Kenichiro Sasae, director-general of the Asian and Oceanian Affairs 
Bureau, who is expected to be installed as Yabunaka's successor, and 
Akitaka Saiki, minister at the Japanese Embassy in the United 
States, who is expected to be chosen as Sasae's replacement, both 
have extensive experience in negotiating with North Korea. Given 
that Fukuda wants to resolve the abduction issue while he is in 
office, the new ministry lineup is seen as having a North Korea 
focus. 
 
With an eye on developments in the U.S. presidential campaign and 
the election next November, Fukuda intends to have Ambassador Ryozo 
Kato, who has been in that post seven years, retire after the Group 
of Eight summit conference at Lake Toya, Hokkaido, next July. But it 
is not clear when he will replace Kato, because the appointment of 
his successor will be affected by the political situation in the 
U.S. 
 
As Kato's successor, a most likely candidate is Ichiro Fujisaki, 
ambassador to the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations 
and Other International Organizations in Geneva. Fujisaki served as 
 
TOKYO 00005671  009 OF 010 
 
 
director-general of the North American Affairs Bureau and deputy 
foreign minister. 
 
Ambassador to Indonesia Shin Ebihara was also rumored to be the next 
ambassador to the U.S., but he is expected to succeed Ambassador to 
the United Kingdom Yoshiji Nogami. Former Ambassador to Ireland 
Keiichi Hayashi is likely to be appointed as director-general of the 
Secretariat. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
13) Japan to announce at Davos Conference a plan to set own 
numerical targets for greenhouse gas emissions cuts 
 
ASAHI (Page 4) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
Prime Minister Fukuda has decided to announce in the annual assembly 
of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in late January 
that Japan will set its own medium- to long-term targets to reduce 
its greenhouse gas emissions. It seems difficult to work out 
targeted numerical figures by the meeting, but the prime minister 
hopes to present such figures at the Lake Toya Summit in Hokkaido 
next July. The Japanese government was negative about setting 
targets out of consideration to concern in domestic industrial 
circles about a decline in Japanese firms' competitiveness in the 
international community, but it has made a policy switch, with a 
desire to demonstrate its leadership in forming a post-Kyoto 
framework. 
 
In a meeting on an international strategy to deal with the global 
warming issue yesterday with the environment minister, the economy, 
trade and industry minister, and the foreign minister, Chief Cabinet 
Secretary Machimura revealed the government's plan to set reduction 
 
SIPDIS 
targets. 
 
In the 13th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Bali, 
Indonesia, this month, Japan, together with the United States, 
opposed the policy of setting numerical targets. Japan's judgment 
was that in order to have such large gas emitters as the U.S., 
China, and India take part in a new framework, it would not be wise 
to set numerical targets at the present stage. Japan's stance met 
strong reactions from the European Union (EU) and developing 
countries. 
 
The global-warming issue will be high on the agenda at the Lake Toya 
Summit, which Japan will chair. If Japan allows other participants 
to continue to regard it as a "force of resistance," Japan will not 
be able to demonstrate leadership. Given this circumstance, the 
prime minister intends to announce in the Davos Conference, which 
will bring about world political and economic leaders that Japan 
will achieve the 6 PERCENT  target set in the Kyoto Protocol and 
then shoulder a further obligation to reduce gas emissions. 
 
14) Government to strengthen greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal 
in post-Kyoto Protocol framework: Mulling introduction of numerical 
target for each country 
 
TOKYO SHIMBUN (Page 3) (Full) 
December 28, 2007 
 
The Kyoto Protocol for greenhouse gas emissions reduction measures 
ends in 2013. In connection with the post-Kyoto framework, the 
 
TOKYO 00005671  010 OF 010 
 
 
government yesterday started considering the possibility of setting 
country-specific numerical targets for cutting greenhouse gases, the 
aim being to further increase Japan's goal to cut emissions 6 
PERCENT  from the 1990 level. 
 
In setting a target number, the government plans to work out a new 
method centering on the feasibility of industry-specific emissions 
reduction goals and ask other countries in talks with them to adopt 
the same method. It will also call on participants to agree on the 
idea at the G-8 Summit in Hokkaido to be held in July next year. 
 
The government is also undergoing coordination with the possibility 
of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announcing the plan there when he 
attends the annual plenary session of the World Economic Forum to be 
held in Davos, Switzerland in late January next year. However, with 
the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Business 
Federation strongly opposing the setting of numerical targets, 
efforts to obtain an agreement on the proposal could run into 
complications. 
 
Japan also intends to propose a global energy conservation 
acceleration strategy aimed at improving by 2020 energy efficiency 
by 30 PERCENT  from the 2005 level. 
 
DONOVAN