PM to thank Japan for backing India-specific waiver at NSG

Anil K Joseph

On Board PM's Special Aircraft, Oct 21 (PTI) Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to thank the Japanese
government for its "exceptional gesture" to back the
India-specific nuclear commerce waiver at the N.S.G. which
ended the country's atomic apartheid.

Singh, who is scheduled to hold summit-level talks with
his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso here tomorrow, is likely to
convey the nation's gratitude to Tokyo's support for India at
the Nuclear Suppliers Group as well as during the meeting of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.).

"It was a conscious decision, a clearly exceptional
gesture," a senior official told reporters travelling with
Singh to Japan Tuesday.

Given the "unique" situation, he said that Japan went
along with the consensus at the N.S.G. meeting which itself
was a major turnaround.

A year ago, it was believed that getting Tokyo's backing
for the Indo-U.S. civil nuclear deal would be a "difficult"
task, he noted.

However, the official noted that one should not expect
immediate response from Japan to conduct civil nuclear
cooperation with India.

"Don't expect big bangs and don't expect a rabbit out of
a hat. Let us evolve," he said.

Ahead of his talks with Singh, Japanese Premier Taro Aso
was non-committal on Tokyo opening the doors for nuclear
commerce with India.

He hoped that New Delhi would stick to its unilateral
moratorium on atomic tests and "implement" commitments made to
the N.S.G. for securing the waiver.

The official said when the Japanese side is ready to
undertake nuclear trade with India, the country would be
prepared to deal with them.

"When they (the Japanese) are ready, we are ready. We are
also ready to work with the world" in the filed of civil
nuclear cooperation, he said.

"It is a new field for us and new for everybody else
also. Right now they (the Japanese) are internally
conflicted," he said, hinting at the opposition to Tokyo's
backing for the India-specific waiver as well as the Indo-U.S.
civil nuclear deal.

"There are questions within Japan why did you do this?",
the official said, adding that nuclear power was a
controversial issue in the country which suffered during the
World War II.

He noted that Japan has been cooperating with other
foreign nations in the civil nuclear energy field.

"We will work it out. We are ready when they are ready,"
he added.