JAPAN: REPORT URGES PM KOIZUMI TO ENDORSE INDIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 003308

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/2016
TAGS: PREL PARM KNNP ENRG JA IN
SUBJECT: JAPAN: REPORT URGES PM KOIZUMI TO ENDORSE INDIA
CIVIL NUCLEAR AGREEMENT

REF: TOKYO 02988

Classified By: Ambassador J. Thomas Schieffer for Reasons 1.4 b/d


1. (C) The Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on June 11, 2006
reported that Prime Minister Koizumi is expected to endorse
the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement during his
summit with President Bush in late June 2006. The article
states that Koizumi's decision reflects the importance Tokyo
places on its relations with the U.S. The article also
reports that Koizumi is expected to give his full support for
the initiative based on the assumption that India has reached
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on a
comprehensive safeguards package and because France and the
United Kingdom already have endorsed the plan. Japan is
expected to continue pushing India to accept IAEA inspectors
at all of its nuclear facilities, including those for
military use, according to the report.


2. (SBU) On June 12, ESToff contacted MOFA Arms Control and
Disarmament Division desk officer Masamitsu Nagano and MOFA
Southwest Asia Division desk officer Aoshima to discuss the
report. Nagano and Aoshima both responded that the article
was speculative and that Japan's position on the India
agreement had not changed since Assistant Secretary of State
for South and Central Asia Boucher discussed India with Vice
Foreign Minister Yachi on May 30 (reftel). During that
meeting, Yachi told Boucher that Japan is favorably inclined
toward the agreement despite reservations about its potential
impact on global non-proliferation efforts.


3. (C) On June 14, ESToff discussed the report with Japan
Institute of International Affairs, Center for the Promotion
of Disarmament and Non-proliferation Senior Research Fellow
Nobumasa Akiyama. In May 2006, a paper recommending that
Japan should endorse the agreement was drafted and submitted
to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) by a group of former
senior government and nuclear industry officials at the
request of the Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, according to
Akiyama. The report highlighted the economic and strategic
benefits Japan could expect from the agreement. Akiyama also
told ESToff the report also argued that Japan must find a way
to accept the agreement in the near term without appearing to
compromise its non-proliferation and disarmament principles
in the face of outside pressure. Akiyama would not speculate
on whether Koizumi had seen the report, whether the Nikkei
article reflected the adoption of the report's conclusions by
the PMO, or whether Koizumi would indeed endorse the
agreement during the summit.


4. (C) COMMENT: Ambassador Schieffer has discussed this
issue with a number of officials at the ministerial level.
Their message is the Japan will endorse the India deal, and
that they understand the agreement to be in their interest as
well as that of the broader international community.
SCHIEFFER