80NFIOENT I A 1 THE WHITE HOUSE 6502 Add-Or WASHINGTON MEMORANDUM OF TELEPEONE CONVERSATION SUBJECT Telcon with Toshiki Kaifu Prime Minister of Japan on August 13 1990 U PARTICIPANTS The President Toshiki Kaifu Prime Minister Interpreter Frances Seeds Notetaker Karl D Jackson DATE TIME AND PLACE August 13 1990 6 55 - 7 15pm EDT Kennebunkport Maine The President telephone Prime Minister Kaifu concerning the Middle East and Persian Gulf The President Toshiki Prime Minister Kaifu The President U Yes George U Toshiki how are you I am fine U U Well I just wanted to call you on one or two points and I know that you are sending Foreign Minister Nakayama to the Middle East to express your support for the Gulf states and I understand why you could not go We will be interested in the results of that trip First I wanted to just thank you for your very strong leadership and support for sanctions in the UN Security Council I am very pleased that we are rallying wonderful international support for the sanctions diplomatic economic and military support so the opposition to Saddam Hussein will be truly global opposition I wanted to touch base with you on the economic side and military side Great Britain France the Netherlands and Australia have agreed to contribute naval forces I also think that Spain and Italy will do the same I would certainly encourage as much support as Japan can give on the economic and military side One thing we are looking at is giving help to the countries that are making the largest sacrifices Turkey Jordan and Egypt it'J Any support you can give on the military side would be helpful I know in the last Persian Gulf crisis Japan helped to defray Declassify on OADR DECLASSIFIED PER E O 12958 AS AMENDED 812-tf IX'A 'lcOO-o Z 'i- F l L 2 some of the costs Anything that Japan can do would be appreciated I would like you to consider a direct Japan contribution to the multinational naval force I realize that would be a watershed event in the post World War II history of Japan but if it could be worked out it would really send a signal that Japan was a full participant in the western alliance This would protect our common interests and would show Japan in a common alliance to protect against Saddam Hussein 17 The multinational peacekeeping effort will probably be coordinated through the UN military staff committee and perhaps Japan could participate in those consultations Although these issues require further consultation initial ideas being kicked around are mine sweeping and ships to carry equipment to Saudi Arabia -- something of that nature The big thing is the more that Japan can do to emphasize Japan making a full commitment the better for everybody Regardless of what Japan does financially I hope that you would be able to consider some of these thoughts and that we could talk more· about them These are some of the ideas I wanted to talk to you about We think the Soviets might participate on the naval side of things We see this as a positive development I would like to have your thoughts on this or you might like to think about it and contact me later IZ Prime Minister Kaifu First of all I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation to you George for your endeavors to maintain peace and stability in the Gulf region today and I sincerely hope that our endeavors will be successful 1 With respect to what you you already know I have leadership from the top what additional forms of have said about Japan's contribution as decided to stay in Japan to exercise and we have already started to consider cooperation we can extend ¥ T e people here on our side have already agreed to extend as much cooperation as possible in the economic field especially for Turkey Jordan and Egypt These countries will be visited by Foreign Minister Nakayama and I have already instructed the Foreign Ministry to explore what cooperation would be possible at this stage With respect co the military side that you have touched upon because of our constitutional constraints and Diet resolutions ic is almost a national policy in this regard so it would be nexc to unt inkable to participate directly in the military -r L 3 sphere Perhaps this point is already known to the military people concerned in your government It is not immediately possible to take part in the multinational naval force You have also mentioned the case of previous times In view of the previous experience we are now currently explorir g in what form we can cooperate further rn The President Well this is good just was not fully aware of your constitutional problem but take a look to see whether there is something that can be done perhaps on the logistic side that will not put you in conflict with Diet resolutions Shipping would be helpful in all of this If it fits in fine if not we will talk some more You have done so well with the leadership over there I would love to see Japan side-by-side with us as much as possible ¥ George I understand you very well Regarding the constraint on Japan what I mentioned was actually of Diet deliberations In the previous case with respect to the Persian Gulf Japan contributed financially and economically to the safe passage of ships through the Gulf In view of this fact and current circumstances I would like to explore what we can do this time K The President Well that's fine My bottom line is that when this chapter of history is written Japan and the U S and a handful of other countries will have stood side-by-side as much as possible We were so impressed by how you rapidly moved on the economic sanctions that I wanted to discuss these things with you J I wish you well Toshiki U P Thank you very much for your call and I hope you will continue to exercise great leadership and we will continue to explore how we can contribute U Thank you good luck and we will be talking before too long Goodbye U Goodnight U -- End of Conversation --