EDITORIAL: Kan's nuclear policy

The export of nuclear power plants is part of the economic growth strategy of the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. The administration is now considering extending nuclear cooperation to India.

A single nuclear power plant contract is worth hundreds of billions of yen. Not only is this a hugely attractive proposition for related businesses, but the government is also looking at it as a means for creating jobs and bolstering the economy.

But this is not an issue to be decided solely from a business angle. Given Japan's firm commitment to its anti-nuclear diplomacy, it is hardly appropriate for Japan to eagerly export a nuclear power plant, its components or related technology to India, a nation that has armed itself with nuclear weapons and has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).

One of the basic principles of the NPT is that any nation that honors this treaty to the letter will be assisted in its peaceful development of nuclear energy.

The implications are too obvious, should Japan--a staunch proponent of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation as the only nation ever attacked by nuclear weapons--cooperate with India, which continues to ignore the NPT.

This would further erode the treaty's credibility, which has already been challenged by the problems created by North Korea and Iran.

The Nuclear Suppliers Group, a multinational body that discusses control of the export of materials related to nuclear programs, decided two years ago to exempt India from its rules that ban nuclear exports to any country that has not signed the NPT. The decision owed to intense lobbying by the George W. Bush administration that wanted stronger relations with rapidly growing India.

Later, the United States, Russia and France signed their respective nuclear cooperation agreements with India.

Amid the reorganization of the nuclear industry around the world, Japan's major manufacturing companies have forged partnerships with their U.S. and French counterparts. The latter are trying to expand business with India and need Japan's superior nuclear power plant components. And Japanese makers are imploring the government to conclude a nuclear cooperation agreement with India to allow them to export to India.

The government values its economic relationship with India. Masayuki Naoshima, minister of economy, trade and industry, visited India in April and agreed with his Indian counterpart to establish a working committee to exchange views on nuclear development.

Is it possible for Japan to conclude a nuclear cooperation agreement with India and still hold fast to its anti-nuclear foreign policy principle? The government has yet to make its position clear, but Kan did promise in his policy speech to assert his leadership in seeking a "nuclear-free world." Kan will have to justify Japan's nuclear cooperation with India if he is to keep his word.

To move closer to a nuclear-free word, even by a baby step, Kan needs to arrange nuclear disarmament talks that involve India as soon as possible.

When he goes to Toronto this weekend for the Group of 20 summit, Kan must let India know Japan's basic position and insist again on nuclear disarmament.

In pursuing its economic growth strategy, the Kan administration should focus on the Chinese market. Japan already has a nuclear cooperation agreement with China. To improve the safety of Chinese nuclear power plants that cluster along coastal areas, Japan should aim to expand its exports of highly reliable, earthquake-resistant components. We certainly think this will benefit both Japan and China.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 23