Japan on Monday asked India to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) even as the two sides decided to reopen talks on a bilateral civil nuclear agreement.
During the sixth Foreign Minister-level strategic dialogue here, the two sides agreed to prepare a master plan for the industrial development of south India, especially areas around Chennai and Bangalore, and accelerate talks on export of rare earths to Japan.
Another decision was to extend their dialogue to a code of conduct in outer space, cyber security and maritime issues, including security and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. The talks also covered Japanese investment in high speed trains, the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and the Dedicated Freight Corridor. While agreeing to step up interaction between the Coast Guards, India and Japan decided to hold their first-ever maritime exercises towards the middle of the year.
New Delhi and Tokyo agreed to resume their dialogue on a civil nuclear agreement but the initial reaction from the principal interlocutors — Foreign Ministers S.M. Krishna and Koichiro Gemba — suggested that both sides were sticking to their earlier positions — India insisting that its non-proliferation behaviour was impeccable enough to warrant the inking of the pact and Japan wanting India to comply with its promise of a ban on further nuclear testing made in the run-up to a clearance by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
A joint statement, after the Fifth Energy dialogue held earlier in the day, indicated that despite the sentiments expressed by the Foreign Ministers, both sides were maintaining positions that were some distance from being reconciled. The statement mentioned in detail prospects of cooperation and ongoing projects in all segments but civil nuclear agreement.
“Japan is asking India to join the NPT… the Foreign Ministers instructed the negotiators to hold talks … Japan views India as a partner with which it should pursue civil nuclear agreement, there is no doubt [about] it,” said Japanese sources after the official round of talks and a courtesy call by Mr. Gemba on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“We have instructed our negotiators on the way forward,” Mr. Krishna said and added the two countries understood the “concerns” of each other which were related to their historic experiences. Officials explained this to mean that while India says its clean non-proliferation record was good enough to restart civil nuclear talks, Japan feels that since India is not a signatory to the NPT, it should demonstrate its commitment to a ban on testing in words.
On maritime dialogue, Mr. Gemba said, “India is actually situated at an important place on the sea lanes of the communication which links Japan with the Middle East. So, I cannot overlook the geo-political significance of the location of India.”
Japanese companies have a virtual monopoly on supplying reactor vessels, a critical component of civil nuclear plants. Officials in the past said that without an India-Japan civil nuclear agreement, Japanese origin firms might not be able to supply components to French and American companies which had won orders to instal nuclear plants in India.
On the trade front, India has extended the validity of an earlier agreement to supply two million tonnes of iron ore per year. It will thus retain its foothold in the Japanese market despite supply disruptions due to court rulings and higher taxes. There is also domestic unease over exporting primary commodities that has led to India slipping from its position as the world's top iron exporter to the third place.
Ahead of the strategic dialogue, the External Affairs Ministry had said the two sides would review all aspects of the bilateral strategic and global partnership and discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The talks were sandwiched between high-level consultations with the U.S. — a summit-level Japan-U.S. meeting took place last month and India and the U.S. will hold their Foreign Minister-level strategic dialogue next week.
Keywords: India, Japan, bilateral ties, non-proliferation treaty, Foreign Minister-level strategic dialogue, S.M. Krishna, Koichiro Gemba
Why doesn't Japan take those words and the Us to give up their nuclear weapons ,since the Us is the country that actually nuked Japan !
We should welcome the fact that India has actually slipped to third position in exports of Iron ore considering the fact that a) Priority can now be given to a balanced approach to development, preservation of forest cover and natural resources for future generation and their consumption. b) Priority can also now be given to a very planned approach to demand and supply of ore for domestic consumption.
Any economist worth their letters would know that the back bone of the industrial revolution was availability and use of rare earths for domestic industry - every stage of refining promotes research and value added economic activity thereby making entire generations prosperous - economically, industrially and intellectually.
Export of ore and import of finished product must be normalized so as to promote indigenous refining capacity to world standards. c) Planned and phased industrial development with local participation ensures absence of land grabbing and Maoist violence.
First restore the renewal vote requirement for NPT. First let the Big 5 nuclear powers reaffirm their commitment to Article 6 of NPT, which requires that they eliminate their nuclear arsenals. And most important of all, let India sign when it has been given the same privileges as the Big 5 nuclear powers.
NNPT discriminates between the big five and the rest. Nuclear haves are allowed to test and to continually upgrade their weapons. They have technology to make small, low yield weapons, which can be tested clandestinely. India is not considered as a 'Nuclear Have', and the conditions imposed on us would be more severe than those on US, Russia, China, UK and France. Indian policy consistently had been to work for a nuclear free world. The number of nuclear weapons that we have are of a very small number, and of a lower yield compared to US and other countries. US and Russia have low yield nukes, that are more likely to be used than the mega ones that we have, whose yield to mass ratio is far less.
Japan should impress upon US to abandon all nuclear weapons, and lead the way for the rest of the world.
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