By IRNA,
New Delhi : While recognizing India’s energy needs, visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said Tuesday that Japan was non-committal on whether it would support India’s case at the 45-nation grouping even as it asked New Delhi to sign the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and CTBT (Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty).
After his talks in New Delhi with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who sought Japan’s support, Komura said Tokyo understands India’s energy needs but wants to be sure that Indo-US nuclear deal will not undermine non-proliferation efforts.
Komura, while noting that Japan is the only one to have suffered an atomic bomb, said his country needs to be sure that the Indo-US nuclear deal is ‘satisfactory’ in the sense that it will further strengthen disarmament and not undermine it.
He said Japan would ‘join the discussions which will be held in the future’, apparently referring to the August 21-22 meeting of NSG to consider waiver for India.
“Japan is leading international efforts for nuclear disarmament.
From this perspective, we need to be satisfied that the Indo-US civil nuclear cooperation initiative will not undermine disarmament,” Komura said at a joint press conference with his Indian counterpart.
“Japan has been requesting India to sign the NPT and ratify the CTBT. In this there is no change in our position and we will continue to ask that,” Komura said.
India has refused to sign the NPT, saying that it is flawed.
On the Indo-US nuclear deal, he said Japan has been given to understand that it is ‘significant’ and will have ‘benefits of peaceful nuclear energy in the sense that it will reduce emissions’.
Meanwhile, Mukherjee sought to allay the concerns, saying the Indo-US nuclear deal is ‘limited to peaceful energy program’ and asserted that New Delhi has an impeccable record on the non-proliferation front despite not being a signatory to the NPT.
“We seek cooperation of the international community… We are aware of Japan’s sensitivity. In view of that I reiterated our firm commitment to total disarmament and strict adherence to conditions of non-proliferation as enshrined in various treaties,” Mukherjee said at a joint press conference.
He said though India is not a signatory to NPT or any other pact, India fulfills ‘all major conditionalities’ required for
non-proliferation.
Notwithstanding its non-committal attitude, Japan joined consensus to support the India-specific safeguards agreement at the IAEA Board of Governors last week, for which Mukherjee thanked Tokyo.
At the same time, the Japanese foreign minister said India should sign the NPT and CTBT.
While maintaining that the Indo-US nuclear deal was only for peaceful uses, Mukherjee said it would enable India to have nuclear trade with international community besides having access to nuclear technology that has been denied so far.
Komura is the first foreign minister of an NSG member country, visiting India.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh is scheduled to visit Japan at the end of the year.