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.

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RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES
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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.)

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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