Meeting of Former Prime Minister Fukuda and Vice Premier Deng (Summary Record)

Confidential

II. Meeting of Former Prime Minister Fukuda and Vice Premier Deng (Summary Record)

Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping and his party, on the morning of the 7th, for approximately one hour from 10:00, visited former Prime Minister Fukuda in the Fukuda Office in the Akasaka Prince Hotel. The major points of their meeting are as follows:

(Those attending: (The other side) Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping, Vice Premier Fang Yi, Foreign Minister Huang Hua, Ambassador Fu Hao, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Wenjin, Special Assistant Pu Shouchang, Protocol Department Director Wei Yongqing, Japan Affairs Division Director Ding Min, Japan Affairs Division Deputy Director Wang Xiaoxian (interpreter), [name blacked out]. (Our side) Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe, Former Minister of Trade and Industry Tanaka, Former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Mori, Asian Affairs Bureau Deputy Director-General Miyake,[name blacked out] (interpreter))  

Contents of the Meeting

1. Invitation to Former Prime Minister Fukuda to Visit China

(1) First, after brief civilities, Vice Premier Deng remarked: The invitation to former Prime Minister Fukuda to visit China remains in effect, and once again I wish to extend directly the invitation to you. It would be good to visit as soon as possible, in April or May, for example, when the weather is good. But if you do not mind the weather, I hope that you visit China even tomorrow.

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4. International Situation

(1) Former Prime Minister Fukuda said: There are bright and dark aspects to the global situation since Vice Premier Deng came to Japan in October last year. Such developments as the normalization of US-Chinese relations and signs of talks between North and South Korea can be offered as bright aspects. Others, such as Vietnam's attack on Cambodia and political unrest in Iran, with the accompanying instability in the supply of oil, can be raised as dark aspects.

(2) In response, Vice Premier Deng said: The international situation has been growing increasingly tense year by year, with no signs of relaxation. The Soviet Union has been making use of Cuba to carry out invasive actions in Africa and Central America, without suffering sanctions from anyone. [rest of line blacked out, followed by three entire lines and the first part of the following line also blacked out] The Soviet Union will certainly not draw back if we do not take an appropriate policy in response. This also has to do with the "Cuba of the Far East" (meaning Vietnam).

(3) In response, former Prime Minister Fukuda said: In a previous meeting with Thai Prime Minister Kriangsak, the Thai prime minister at that time said: the Pol Pot regime will not be so easily eliminated because: (a) The Pol Pot guerrillas are strong; (b) Vietnam is suffering economically; (c) and China is not staying silent. Thailand will do everything in its power for the peace and stability of the region. As I (former Prime Minister Fukuda) see it, the important thing is the economic and political stability of areas in contact with the Soviet Union. On this point, I think that the Pol Pot regime had not sufficiently gained the support of the Cambodian people and that Vietnam took advantage of the people's discontent. If Thailand is stable, even the Soviet Union will be unable to meddle there. From this vantage point, Japan greatly increased its economic cooperation for the stability of Thailand's civilian government at the time of Prime Minister Kriangsak's recent visit to Japan.  In Iran, too, the people were discontented and the political situation became unstable. There is concern that, should the disorder there continue, it will give the Soviets an opening for intervention. However, Japan will take no action other than keeping a watch on the situation.  

(4) In response, Vice Premier Deng said: The Soviet Union has already been intervening in Iran. However, in the present situation, we are not yet at the point where our side can do nothing. The United States is worried that the situation in Iran will have a bad effect on Saudi Arabia, but I am more worried about the effect on Pakistan and India. India has already said that, if requested, it will recognize Cambodia's Revolutionary Council. Standing idly by and doing nothing while Vietnam intervenes in Cambodia would affect ASEAN and would also be a grave matter for Japan as well. We must seriously consider this problem. The attitude of China regarding this, following the meeting with President Carter, can be summarized in three points: (1) China always carries out what it said it will do. (2) Chinese act after mature deliberation. (3) China does not undertake reckless acts. We are considering the choice between this and doing nothing at all not simply from the viewpoint of China, but from that of the Asia-Pacific region and, furthermore, from that of the entire global situation.