AMBASSADOR ROOS MAKES COURTESY CALL ON FINANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 002222 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/22/2019 TAGS: ECON EFIN JA SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR ROOS MAKES COURTESY CALL ON FINANCE MINISTER FUJII Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission James P. Zumwalt, Reasons 1.4 (b ) and (d) ¶1. (C) Ambassador Roos paid a brief courtesy call on Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii on September 18 at the Ministry of Finance. Fujii stressed that he wanted to work closely with the United States, looked forward to working with the Ambassador, and hoped to meet Secretary Geithner at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburg. Fujii said that the DPJ had quietly begun preparations on the FY10 budget well in advance of the election and so would be in a position to meet the end-of-December deadline. The Ambassador also noted the importance of Japan and the United States working together to return the world to more balanced and sustainable pattern of global growth. -------------- RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES -------------- ¶2. (C) After receiving the Ambassador's congratulations on the Democratic Party of Japan's (DPJ) victory in the August 30 Lower House elections, DPJ Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii stressed his intention to establish a very close relationship with the United States. Fujii recalled that, in his previous term as Finance Minister from August 1993 to June 1994, he had a good working relationship with then-Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen and then-Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lawrence Summers. He also looked forward to working with the Ambassador, noting that he had visited his daughter 16 years ago in San Francisco while she was posted there with Mitsubishi Chemicals. ¶3. (C) Fujii also expressed his desire to meet bilaterally with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner during the September 24-25 G-20 Leaders Summit in Pittsburg, adding that he had heard that Secretary Geithner knew Japan quite well from his assignment in the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo from 1990 to 1992. The Ambassador agreed that the two Finance Ministers should meet and promised to do what he could to facilitate that. (NOTE: The bilateral meeting between Secretary Geithner and Finance Minister Fujii has since been scheduled. End Note.) -------------- ECONOMIC ISSUES -------------- ¶4. (C) The Ambassador noted the very limited amount of time (roughly two weeks) that the DPJ had between its election victory and taking office and said that he understood how important reshaping the Fiscal Year 2010 budget was to the DPJ. (NOTE: Fujii worked in the Budget Bureau of the Ministry of Finance before leaving in 1976 to become a politician. End Note.) Fujii replied that, although the DPJ could not say so publicly, it understood it was likely to win the election and so quietly undertook work on the FY10 budget well in advance of the election. As a result, the Hosokawa Administration would be in a position to meet the December deadline for Cabinet approval of the draft budget. ¶5. (C) The Ambassador also noted, in the context of the G-20, that the United States and Japan had a shared interest in returning the world to a more balanced and sustainable pattern of global growth. ¶6. (U) Participants: Finance Minister Fujii Vice Minister for International Affairs Tamaki Director Mizuguchi (International Coordination) MOF Interpreter Ambassador Roos Financial Attache Kaproth Embassy Tokyo Interpreter Miyazaki ROOS