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POLITICS: Indo-US Nuclear Deal Tests Japan’s Policies

Suvendrini Kakuchi

TOKYO, Sep 14 2006 (IPS) - Japan’s nuclear power industry is under the spotlight again as the world debates the nuclear proliferation controversy in Iran and North Korea and Tokyo comes under pressure from the United States to support its own nuclear cooperation pact with India.

”There is growing tension in the air over a trend that supports nuclear power expansion in Asia that is accompanied by nuclear risk in the region. We are very much opposed to Japan supporting the nuclear power agreement signed in 2005 between India and the U.S. because India is not a member of the Nuclear Non proliferation Treaty (NPT),” said Hideaki Ban, a leading anti-nuclear activist in Japan.

Last week, five of Japan’s largest grass-roots environment groups led by the Citizens Nuclear Information Network joined hands with 40 other smaller organisations and sent a petition to the Japanese government demanding that Tokyo oppose the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) lifting restrictions on the nuclear trade with India.

India has been getting support from several quarters. For example, a joint statement on Wednesday following a trilateral trade meeting in Brasilia, India, Brazil and South Africa (or IBSA) said: “The leaders agreed to explore approaches to cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate safeguards.”

The fact that Brazil and South Africa renounced nuclear weapons to gain access to civilian nuclear technology and that Brazil is the current chair of the NSG lends weight to India’s case.

But Japan’s support is important because all the members of the NSG must agree so that restrictions on sale of nuclear material and technology to India are lifted. Before the NSG gets to that point, however, U.S. Congress must complete a process to modify U.S. law to approve a special clearance for India.

Ban said that since decisions in the NSG are based on consensus and that opposition by Japan will successfully obstruct the U.S. that is canvassing international support for India as a special and deserving case. This, despite the fact that India is a self-declared nuclear weapons state.

‘’As Japan has experienced nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War ll in 1945, the Japanese government has an obligation to not to bend to U.S. pressure,” said Seiya Oakamoto, representative of the Movement Against U.S. bases in Atsugi, a municipality that hosts U.S. military and air force bases.

Still, there are worrying signs that Japan, the world’s second largest economy and a leader in nuclear power technology, may itself be moving slowly away from its position of being a non-nuclear state,

”The official position is that Japan remains opposed to the U.S.-India civilian nuclear pact. At the same time, we have to consider the growing energy needs of India,” said a foreign ministry official who declined to be named.

In fact, the July 2005 Indo-U.S. nuclear cooperation deal was heavily influenced by Washington’s desire that India abandon a project to import gas from Iran through an overland pipeline that cuts through Pakistan.

Yet, comments such as those made by the foreign ministry official are viewed with alarm by activists who say they hint at a major change in Japanese policy towards India that could pave the way for a nuclear power race in Asia where several rapidly developing economies are anxious to meet rising energy demands.

India’s rival and neighbour, Pakistan, which was denied civilian nuclear cooperation by the U.S. on the grounds that it had proliferated enrichment technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, is now expected sign an alternate deal with China in November. Like India, Pakistan is a self-declared nuclear power and non-signatory to the NPT.

Critics point out that nuclear technology developed for the civilian sector could be readily converted for military purposes, posing a security risk for the region. Japan’s acute awareness of this possibility may be seen in a Sep. 6 statement made by former prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone that Japan needed to consider the nuclear option, given the presence of nuclear states in the neighbourhood and the uncertain future of ties with the U.S.

‘’There are countries with nuclear weapons in Japan’s vicinity,” said Nakasone. ‘’We are currently dependent on U.S. nuclear weapons ( as a deterrent) but it is not known whether the U.S. attitude will continue,” he said during a press conference held to release a report titled, ‘An image of Japan in the 21st Century’.

Analysts contend that Nakasone’s remark reflects Japan’s growing unease over North Korea’s nuclear weapon development programme, seen as a threat to East Asian security.

Despite a six-party alliance, including Japan and the U.S. working together to defuse the risk, the totalitarian state has not given up its nuclear programme. Pyongyang’s decision to launch seven missile tests in July prompted top politicians to call on Japan to attain preemptive capability.

‘’History has proved that diplomacy does not work with Pyongyang. Japan must develop a stronger military strategy that could act as a stronger form of pressure,” said Prof. Masaru Fukunaga, a South Asian expert at Gifu Women’s Univeristy.

The looming Iran crisis as Washington turns the heat on that country to give up its uranium enrichment programme is also becoming a difficult issue for Japan that depends on Iran for almost 20 percent of its oil supplies.

‘’Asia’s energy needs are soaring and nuclear energy is becoming attractive for countries such as Vietnam, China and Malaysia. Japan is not looking into producing nuclear weapons but rather eyeing the Asian market which will boost profits for Japanese energy companies,” Ban told IPS.

Almost 30 percent of Japan’s energy needs are supported by nuclear power and the government plans to increase it to 40 percent by 2014 by adding 10 more reactors.

With Iran now becoming a major diplomatic crisis, Japan’s own nuclear power strategy of supporting the NPT has become a position that clashes with its own economic interests, says the foreign ministry official.