NEW DELHI: Japan’s foreign minister warned India on Saturday against conducting any new nuclear tests, saying such a move would force a halt to any civilian nuclear cooperation between the two countries.
The warning came a day after India’s cabinet approved a long-delayed draft law that will clear the way for foreign nuclear groups to build reactors in the 150-billion-dollar Indian atomic energy market.
Before leaving for his two-day visit to India, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said any civilian nuclear deal between the two countries needed a clause to define how Tokyo would respond to any nuclear test by New Delhi.
“Japan will have no option but to suspend our cooperation” in the event of a nuclear test by India, Okada told a news conference in New Delhi
The two countries launched talks in June on signing an atomic civilian cooperation agreement which will allow Tokyo to export nuclear power generation technology and related equipment to energy-hungry India.
But survivors of the World War II US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have opposed the move, as India has developed nuclear arms without signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
India stunned the world in 1998 by staging nuclear tests, prompting a tit-for-tat response by rival Pakistan.
Okada did not mention Japanese calls for a clause in the pact dealing with any new nuclear tests by India but he earlier said in Tokyo that how the clause is incorporated will “depend on upcoming negotiations”.
India’s foreign minister S.M. Krishna told the joint news conference that “negotiations will continue quickly and that we will jointly work towards a good agreement which will result in ‘win-win’ for both India and Japan”.
The Indian government said there was no deadline for concluding the agreement. Earlier reports had said the deal was expected to be signed next month.
India’s parliament is expected to pass next week a nuclear liabilities bill which is part of a landmark atomic energy pact with the United States in 2008 that granted New Delhi access to foreign nuclear technology.
Okada earlier in the day held talks with Krishna to firm up bilateral ties.
“India-Japan relations have undergone a significant and qualitative shift in recent years,” an Indian government statement said.
Both sides have expressed “resolve to enhance our mutually beneficial strategic and global partnership”, the statement added.
The two sides also discussed economic cooperation, including a multi-billion-dollar Japanese loan for the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor connecting northern cities with western ports.
Japan is the sixth-largest foreign investor in India and two-way trade totals more than 12 billion dollars.
After leaving India, Okada was slated to travel to Thailand for talks with Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and other senior leaders on Monday.
