Japan yesterday declined to pursue civilian nuclear trade arrangements with India, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, Sept. 8).
Since being exempted from international restrictions, New Delhi has pursued deals to acquire nuclear technology and material from the United States and other nations.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said during an hourlong meeting that his government hoped to negotiate a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Japan. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso replied by restating Tokyo's wish for New Delhi to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
"India must carry out its promises through action, including maintaining the moratorium on nuclear tests," Aso told reporters in an appearance with Singh. "Regarding nuclear cooperation between Japan and India in the future, there are various factors that must be carefully considered."
Japan is the only nation to have sustained nuclear attacks, with the U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II.
"It is our sincere desire to strengthen and develop our cooperation with Japan in civil nuclear energy, but I do recognize the sensitivities of this issue in Japan and therefore we will move at a pace which the Japanese government and people are comfortable with," Singh said (Kyodo News/BreitBart, Oct. 22).
Japan's leading political opposition party called on Singh to seek the eventual abolition of nuclear weaponry, Agence France-Presse reported.
"We hope that India maintains transparency of its nuclear sector and contributes to efforts towards an elimination of nuclear weapons," Yukio Hatoyama, head of the Japanese Democratic Party, told the Indian premier (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Oct. 23).