The Hindu : India, Japan close partners, says Kawaguchi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 08, 2003

National

National

India, Japan close partners, says Kawaguchi

By Amit Baruah

The External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, with his Japanese counterpart, Yoriko Kawaguchi, at a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. — Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

NEW DELHI Jan.7. The Japanese Foreign Minister, Yoriko Kawaguchi, said today that India and Japan were ``close partners'' and the objective of her visit was to strengthen the bilateral relationship.

Ms. Kawaguchi, who arrived here from Sri Lanka, held delegation-level talks with her Indian counterpart, Yashwant Sinha, at South Block. ``India and Japan are close partners and I am here to strengthen our relationship from the strategic point of view,'' she told this correspondent before going into talks with Mr. Sinha.

Briefing presspersons on the meeting between the two Ministers, the Foreign Office spokesman said there was ``good understanding'' between India and Japan on the issue of international terrorism. The Japanese Foreign Minister is said to have stressed the need for increased cooperation in the battle against the menace.

Ms. Kawaguchi told Mr. Sinha during the talks (there was no one-on-one meeting) that Tokyo had been telling Islamabad to stop infiltration across the Line of Control. She is reported to have expressed concern at newspaper reports on the nuclear and missile nexus between North Korea and Pakistan. Japan, she said, stood against both nuclear and missile proliferation. If these reports on the North Korea-Pakistan linkage was correct, then it was bound to have an impact on Japan's bilateral relations with Pakistan.

For his part, Mr. Sinha raised the issue of ``catch-all'' export controls imposed by Japan and said these generated negative views in the business community. Ms. Kawaguchi said she would convey Indian concerns to Ministers dealing with the economy.

Mr. Sinha also made the point that cross-border terrorism sponsored by Pakistan was continuing. India, he said, was in favour of a dialogue with Pakistan but continuing Pakistani support to terrorism was not creating a conducive atmosphere for a dialogue.

Earlier, talking to presspersons at the Delhi Metro site, Ms. Kawaguchi avoided a direct answer to a question about the missiles-for-nuclear knowhow deal between North Korea and Pakistan. She, however, pointed to the fact that it was Japan alone which had been the victim of two nuclear bombs. Japan was against any kind of nuclear proliferation and remained concerned about this problem.

Her visit to India is important in the sense that Indian policy-makers have been deeply critical about Japan in the post-May 1998 scenario.

Unlike the United States and even key European nations, India and Japan have not been able to hit a high note in their relations.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National