Japan, a key member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), today asked India to sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
The country, which is covered by the US nuclear umbrella and which in 06-07 raised its missile defence budget by 50 per cent, gave no clear answer to whether it would support India at the NSG meeting on August 21. The meeting is expected to decide if India can carry out nuclear trade with the supplier countries under the nuclear deal with the US.
After talks with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who sought Japan’s support for the deal, Foreign Minister Masshiko Koumura said Tokyo needed to be sure that the arrangement would not undermine non-proliferation efforts.
Mukherjee sought to allay these concerns saying the deal was “limited to peaceful energy programme” and said New Delhi had an impeccable record on non-proliferation 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 press conference with Koumura. He said though India was not a signatory to the NPT or any other pact, it fulfilled “all major conditionalities” of non-proliferation.
Koumura, noting that Japan is the only country to have suffered an atomic bomb, said his country needed to be sure that the deal was “satisfactory” in the sense that it would strengthen disarmament and not undermine it. He said Japan would “join the discussions that would be held in future”, apparently referring to the NSG meeting.
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The NSG decides by consensus, and if members are unable to reach an agreement in the consultative group, a larger plenary is convened. The United States is seeking on behalf of India (which is not an NSG member) a “clean” exemption to engage in nuclear commerce without signing the NPT or the CTBT.
India wants the exemption to be unconditional but the US has warned that some conditions might be attached.
Re-stressing the point, India today said it did not expect any new conditions as that would nullify the safeguards pact cleared by the nuclear atomic watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). India also said that its export control requirements had already been harmonised in tune with the NSG guidelines.