Bill Clinton: “This is a different government and a different time with different objectives for the internal economy of Japan. I think…”

“This is a different government and a different time with different objectives for the internal economy of Japan. I think that the present policy is not sustainable. On the other hand, this government was elected and this Prime Minister was elected to deal with a wide range of issues. They are working on their political reform agenda now, and I think they will conclude it soon. The United States supports those efforts at political reform and believes that they should be encouraged. It's part of the change that is sweeping the world. After that, I believe that Prime Minister Hosokawa will move seriously on the two great economic issues that we share in common: One is what should be done to make sure that at times like this when there's a global recession, the United States, Japan, and Europe follow policies that will promote higher rates of global growth, because we can't grow unless there's a global economic growth pattern. Secondly is, what can we do to follow up on our framework agreement in which we identified some very specific areas in which we expect mutually to work together to get real results? My vision, as I said to Prime Minister Hosokawa, for Japan is that as we move toward the 21st century, Japan will become like other great powers in terms of its openness to investment and to trade and that together we will help to create a world of far more sustained and sustainable growth and opportunity for our own people and, in the process for the developing nations as well. Taiwan”