米国務省、東京五輪は「選手の健康と安全が優先」

米国務省、東京五輪は「選手の健康と安全が優先」

 

 QUESTION: Yeah. Ben Marks with NKH. Two questions if I may. Regarding the Tokyo Olympics, last Sunday in an interview President Biden was asked if he was in favor of sending an American team to compete. He said that whether or not it is safe to occur needs to be based on science. The current State Department travel advisory for Japan is “Level 3: Reconsider Travel.” Does the State Department feel it is currently not safe for American athletes to travel to Japan? And second question: NHK and other Japanese media have reported that the Japanese Government is expecting to reach a tentative one-year extension of the Special Measures Agreement possibly next week and then continue negotiating the remaining four years. Can you confirm this, and does the Biden administration believe Japan needs to pay more for U.S. forces?

MR PRICE: Well, when it comes to the Olympics, of course, the Olympics are still some time away, not until this summer. I think broadly, we understand what a difficult decision it must be for – or it was, in this case, for former Prime Minister Abe and the Japanese Government to delay the Tokyo pandemic due – the Tokyo Olympics due to the pandemic.

We are in touch with the U.S. Olympic and the Paralympic Committee and they’re obviously monitoring the situation in Japan closely. They’re briefed regularly on the Tokyo Organization Committee’s preparations. In this case, we’re fortunate that our interests are very much aligned with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. We want Team USA to succeed on the international stage, and of course, the health and safety of this – of our athletes is the priority. Ultimately, though, this will be the decision of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

まあ、そつなく当然のことを述べている。