E&OE.......................................................................................................
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this morning I had three very important
bilateral meetings - with President Habibie of Indonesia, President
Kim Dae-Jung of Korea, and the new Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Obuchi.
It was in fact my first meeting with each of those three gentlemen
in their current positions. I had previously met Dr Habibie when he
was a Minister in the Indonesian Government. I think it's fair
to say that Dr Habibie and I spent most of our time talking about
the domestic reforms and the domestic situation in Indonesia. He assured
me of the commitment of his Government towards greater liberalisation
in that country. He expressed a great deal of optimism about the measures
that had been adopted at the recent meeting of the Assembly, and he
was hopeful that those measures would be seen as a very significant
gesture towards a more open liberal and democratic political system
in Indonesia.
He was very grateful for the support that Australia had given Indonesia
in her time of very great difficulty a few months ago. He was particularly
grateful for the fact that Australia had argued with other nations
for a better understanding of the social problems faced by Indonesia
because of the economic downturn. He drew attention to the way in
which his country's currency had stabilised, compared with what
it had obtained a few months ago, and as befits his personality, was
very upbeat about the future of both his Government and Indonesia.
I extended an invitation to him to visit Australia and I'm very
hopeful that he will take up that invitation next year.
I was particularly pleased to meet President Kim Dae-Jung of Korea.
I think all of you know what an incredible experience he's been
through politically in his own country, and what a remarkable achievement
it is for him after all that's happened, to become President
of Korea, and of course assume the presidency of that country at a
time of extraordinary economic challenge and difficulty.
He once again was very appreciative of the support that Australia
extended through the IMF bail-out to Korea. He gave me a detailed
rundown of the measures that had been taken to strengthen the Korean
economy, and it's fair to say that Korea, along with Thailand,
certainly accepted some very severe economic medicine in order to
get their domestic economies back into shape. He made the very important
observation to me that it was essential that each country in the region
make sure that its domestic economic foundations and fundamentals
were in order, and that action on the international multilateral front
should be seen as a supplement for, and not a replacement of, domestic
economic change and domestic economic correction. And I was very encouraged
at the continued commitment that he showed towards economic reform
and economic change.
Both he and President Habibie welcomed the Australian initiative relating
to economic and financial governance, and of course that particular
initiative will allocate from the 50 million dollars in question something
in the order of 18 or 19 million dollars for projects to improve the
economic and financial governance of different institutions within
Indonesia. So, it's a particularly important initiative for that
country, but there will also be benefits for other countries as well.
I also appreciated the opportunity to meet Mr Obuchi. We exchanged
some reminiscences about broad-based indirect taxes. He drew my attention
to the fact that his political mentor, Mr Takeshita, had been the
Prime Minister of Japan when the broad-based indirect tax was introduced.
He said it was introduced at three percent and now it's five,
and now there's agitation for it to come back to three. And I
made the observation later in the discussion that it was always important
to introduce it at a realistic level at the beginning, and therefore
there'd be absolutely no pressure for any increase, and absolutely
no argument about that.
He gave me also a rundown on what had occurred in Japan. He detailed
the stimulus package he announced yesterday and also alluded to the
joint announcement that had been made by Japan and the United States
last night. He of course recognises that his Government must get the
Japanese economy back into positive growth and he recognises that
that is their overriding responsibility.
He felt the banking reforms that had been passed by the Japanese Diet
would make a very big contribution towards repairing some of the fundamentals
that need to be repaired in Japan. I emphasised to him the value of
course of Japan to us, and how important the strength of the Japanese
economy was to Australia's economic future, and he renewed an
invitation, which I intend to take up, to pay a state visit to Japan
next year. It's part of a longstanding arrangement, an official
visit I think is the correct expression (thank you, Mr Thawley), and
I hope to take up that invitation next year, and of course the relationship
between our two countries is well known, quite fundamental to us,
and the strength of the Japanese economy is very important to the
strength of the economic direction of the whole world.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, Vice President Al Gore praised the "brave people of
Malaysia" for fighting for reforms and freedoms through the reformasi
movement in Malaysia. Does Australia also support the reformasi movement
here?
PRIME MINISTER:
Everybody has their own way of dealing with issues which they want
to comment on. I chose to meet the Prime Minister of Malaysia and
to express my views to him, that's the Australian way. Vice President
Gore has chosen to express some views, that's his decision and
he's got a perfect right to do that. I think our view on the
issue, which you no doubt have in mind in asking that question, is
well-known and we believe in an open democratic system as the preferable
way of running a country. We also recognise that different countries
have different views and have different cultures and the intelligent
thing to do and I think productive thing for a country Australia's
size and where Australia is located, to do is to always be identified
with liberal democratic values and always to be seen as a country
that values those approaches and puts great store on them, but not
to be seen as a country which sees its prime role in the world as
lecturing others as to how they should run their systems of government.
Now our position in relation to the former Deputy Prime Minister of
this country of Malaysia is well-known. In fact I think I was probably
the first regional leader to say something about it, so I'm not
going to accept from anybody any suggestion that Australia has been
reluctant to express a point of view. But you must understand that
we are part of this region, we often do things a little differently
from others because we have different interests, and we have a different
approach, and what is the Australian way is the way best-calculated
to register our point of view, but by the same token to have a continuing
influence in the region. And I've often spoken of the fact that
Australia brings unique insights to this region because of our geographic
proximity. That was clearly demonstrated in the insights we brought
when Indonesia was in deep financial, political and social difficulty
some time ago. And I think our insights there were right and they
helped the situation and that is now widely recognised and I think
that same observation must of necessity be made in other matters.
JOURNALIST:
Does Australia support the reformasi movement in Malaysia of which
Anwar is a part?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, what Australia support is a transparent trial of him, and what
Australia supports is continuing moves in all countries towards a
more open liberal democratic society. I'm not going to attach
myself to this or that description, or this or that tag of something
else. Of course we support a more liberal open approach in all countries,
but we also respect the right of countries to have the system of governance
that they think is best for their society.
JOURNALIST:
Now is it the case that this has been....reform in Indonesia?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't think it's possible, Craig, to give a simplistic
yes or no answer to that sort of question. I think the issues involved
are far more complicated than the simplicity of that question suggests.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Gore's remarks also extended to Indonesia. Was there any discussion
between you and Dr Habibie today on those remarks?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I haven't read the full text of Mr Gore's remarks,
you may have, I haven't. I read a report of them. Indonesia has
come some distance from where it was, and I'd repeat what I said
yesterday. People should have an understanding of the huge social
and economic and political transformation that faces Indonesia. It's
a very large country. There are significant internal conflicts and
pressures, and I think people should have an understanding of what
is involved.
We all want a more liberal and open and democratic society in that
country, of course we do. But we've got to recognise, and I speak
as an Australian, and speaking as Australian Prime Minister, we've
got to recognise that every society is different, and you don't
necessarily achieve desirable outcomes by constantly hectoring other
nations in order to change the way they run their life. You must retain
influence, and the best way for a country of 18 million people to
retain influence is to hold fast to its own values, but by the same
token have a capacity to understand that other countries may want
to do things differently. And nations of 18 million people obviously
will deport themselves differently on occasions than nations of over
200 million.
JOURNALIST:
Does Australia believe that the Indonesian Military went too far last
week?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'm not going to give a judgement yes or no on that. I think
that is the sort of peremptory black and white judgement that it is
not helpful for Australian Prime Ministers to make. You give considered
observations over a period of time, and we have made it very, very
plain that we want more reform. We've made that very plain, but
we're also making it very plain that we appreciate the steps
that Indonesia has already taken. And the bilateral relationship between
Australia and Indonesia, let me say to you, has survived the most
enormous changes that have taken place in Indonesia over the last
12 months in very good shape, and one of the reasons why it has survived
in very good shape is that I haven't run around giving advice
every hour of the day of every day, as to what the Indonesian people
and the Indonesian authorities should do. And if you want to care
for the Australian national interest, and the Australian national
interest lies in keeping a strong bilateral relationship with Indonesia,
you don't spend all your time giving lectures to other countries
and other societies.
JOURNALIST:
Will Australia contribute to the US$5 billion dollars aid.. (inaudible)?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we will obviously have a look at any approaches, but you've
got to bear in mind that Australia has already made, given her size,
very significant contributions to the financial bail-outs in the region
and we've contributed, along with Japan we're the only country
to have contributed to each of the three IMF bail-outs, and in each
case it's been the equivalent of US $1 billion dollars, and we've
also increased our bilateral aid to Indonesia, and we've also
announced a 50 million dollar package in relation to financial and
economic governance, so I don't think anybody can suggest that
Australia hasn't already made a very significant contribution.
JOURNALIST:
On the issue of the announcement last night, the five/10 billion dollar
package or whatever it is, I understand that Australia has been approached
on a bilateral basis by some East-Asian countries, asking whether
the country would be prepared to give some form of guarantee to loan-raising
programs by those countries.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I'm not aware of the details of those approaches. I would
be happy obviously to consider any approaches, I say consider, but
I simply make the point that we've already contributed very generously
and I'm just not going to make an on-the-run further commitment.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Howard, has Australia been approached to, and asked to send officials
to meet in Tokyo, on the bailout? There's going to be a meeting
shortly in Tokyo to...
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, there's been an invitation. You're talking about the
(inaudible), the announcement that was made last night? Well obviously
Australia will, at an official level, involve itself in discussions,
yes.
JOURNALIST:
The Malaysian Trade Minister has taken great umbrage at Vice President
Gore's speech, and said it could spoil APEC before it begins.
Do you share that concern?
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, I don't think APEC will be spoilt, no I don't. No, I
don't think APEC will be spoilt at all.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think that Mr Gore went too far...?
PRIME MINISTER:
Mr Who?
JOURNALIST:
Did you think that US Vice President Gore went too far....
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, look I'm not going to give him advice either.
JOURNALIST:
I understand the question of bail for Mr Anwar was raised..
PRIME MINITSER:
Who by?
JOURNALIST:
Between Wan Azizah and Mr Downer. Does Australia support....
PRIME MINISTER:
Oh, look I've already made a very detailed statement about Anwar
and we've made our position very clear. I'm not going to
sort of micro-analyse every aspect of it. Our position is we want
a transparent trial, I said that to Dr Mahathir. I didn't say
it through a speech, I said it to him. That remains our position.
And as to the minutiae of that, I just don't think there's
anything I can add. I'm not going to do it. Thank you.
[ends]