Japan urges India on NPT for nuke cooperation

Even as India and Japan on Wednesday agreed to resume talks on civilian nuclear cooperation to address India’s growing energy needs, the Japanese side made it clear the talks could move ahead only when India becomes a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

This is not the first time that Japan has expressed concerns over India not being party to the NPT. So far, both the countries had two-three rounds of formal negotiations on cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The negotiations for this were launched in June 2010.

“We need to bring the negotiators on the table now and it is not as if we would sign the deal tomorrow. This is an ongoing process. We are supportive of this cooperation between both the countries. But we do want all the non-members, such as India, to strengthen the NPT. We will see how we arrive at that when we sign the nuclear cooperation agreement,” said Noriyuki Shikata, Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs and Director of Global Communications at the Japan Prime Minister's office.

 

Ever since the talks of Japan exporting its nuclear technology to India started, widespread protests were seen in Japan from the anti-nuclear activists as India has not signed the NPT yet. Japan is the only country in Asia that has undergone nuclear disasters many times before, be it the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the recent earthquake that led to a severe accident in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. So, public anger against such moves is natural.

However, Japanese energy companies are eagerly waiting for the deal as they see huge potential in helping India build nuclear plants where it will be competing with US and French suppliers. Japan had suspended the talks for civilian nuclear cooperation post the Fukushima disaster due to rise in the protests over the safety of Japanese atomic power plants.

But both sides did engage informally also in this issue post the Fukushima incident. During the last summit meeting in September, Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda stated that bringing the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station under stability is the first priority of his administration and only after controlling the situation will Japan move forward on the cooperation with India.

A civilian nuclear pact between Japan and India is also vital, given that Japanese companies have stakes in all US and French firms which would be setting up nuclear power plants in India, according to a report by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses.