Japan’s attitude towards India’s nuke policy mellowed down

Tokyo, June 9: Defence minister George Fernandes, who held a series of meetings with Japanese leaders here, has said he found that their attitude towards India’s nuclear policy and the CTBT has significantly mellowed.

Fernandes, who was here for the funeral of former Premier Keizo Obuchi, said all Japanese leaders raised the question of India’s signing of the CTBT, but compared to last year they now understand New Delhi’s policy better. The Defence Minister had a series of meetings with senior Japanese ministers and ruling party parliamentarians including premier Yoshiro Mori, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and his Japanese counterpart Tsutomu Kawara.

Fernandes said the ministers and parliamentarians he met gave the impression that "they are keen to see Japan take part in India’s booming economy the way it should".

"They also want to see Indo-Japanese security dialogue, started in January, to develop in a meaningful manner," the Minister said. "The two countries," he said, basically agreed on nuclear disarmament. "We are on the same track. Therefore, that issue must not be in the way of building and expanding our bilateral relations in areas of huge potential,” he said.