Japan warns India against nuclear tests

Posted By Joshua Keating Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - 1:22 PM Share

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuyo Okada is in India this week holding talks on civilian nuclear cooperation, but he is also pushing for a clause to attempt to limit India's future nuclear weapons tests:

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.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government has been criticized at home for negotiating the deal with India, which developed nuclear weapons outside the framework of the global non-proliferation treaty. Japan's Mainichi Shimbun editorializes:

Cooperation with any country like India on atomic energy could make the NPT a dead letter and give Iran and other countries that are suspected of developing nuclear weapons even though they are parties to the treaty an excuse to develop nuclear arms.... [I]n negotiating with India, Japan should assert its position as the only country that has suffered from nuclear devastation.

India seems unlikely to agree to further pledges against nuclear testing, beyond those it has already made. As a member of the international nuclear-suppliers group, Japan finally overcame years of resistance in 2008 when it agreed to a waiver that allowed India to receive nucelar assistance despite its non-NPT status. Japan's willingness to cooperate on nuclear energy with India is a pretty good indication of how China's military and economic rise has changed the equation for its neighbors.

EXPLORE:INDIA, JAPAN, NUKES

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SOPRANOVICH

2:16 PM ET

August 28, 2010

nuclear testing

Let Japan warns North Korea against nuclear testing.

MUSTNOTSLEEP14

10:50 AM ET

August 31, 2010

India is unique when it comes

India is unique when it comes to nuclear weapons and should not be limited by the idiotic NPT. India needs nuclear weapons to preserve territorial integrity from rogue nations such as Pakistan and China. (I am sure that if you could verifiably denuclearize China and Pakistan, India would give up its arsenal.) In the Cold War, while Japan was shielded with US nukes, India had to face a hostile US and a Soviet Union intentionally kept at arms length. These factors forced the Indians to rely on their own ingenuity when faced with such a hostile outside world. Now, Pakistan, a nation with 40% literacy has nukes and Japan is going to lecture India about testing? Until India joins the US umbrella, Japan should refrain from giving any threats to India on this issue. The Japanese tradition of pacifism can only exist in the presence of security, and India has not yet achieved this mark.

DDSNAIK

9:57 PM ET

September 3, 2010

True but...

... to my knowledge, India never signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty anyway going back to the days of Non-Aligned movement, so she she shouldn't be limited by any legal measures.

Agreed with MUSTNOTSLEEP about the pragmatic value of Indian nukes and the likelihood of self-surrender if the neighbors were less belligerent or more certifiably safe - but I wouldn't expect that in our lifetime. Too bad.

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