Japan looks to US for strategy on nuclear India

Tokyo, Jan 10: Japan has no plans to recognise India as a nuclear power but will refer to a US law allowing the sale of nuclear fuel and reactors to India to shape its strategy, the government's top spokesman said today.

Such recognition would enable Japanese companies to participate in construction of nuclear power stations in India, Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said earlier in a report on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to visit India later this year.

Abe would express support for the US-India agreement, giving de facto recognition to India's status as a nuclear power, the paper said.

''As the only nation to suffer a nuclear attack, we have placed importance on international nuclear non-proliferation based on means such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),'' Japanese government spokesman Yasuhisa Shiozaki told a news conference.

''Taking this into consideration, I believe we have to decide our nation's thinking through careful examination of the details of the US-India agreement,'' said Shiozaki, the chief cabinet secretary, adding that Japan would continue to urge India to sign the treaty.

Supporters say the US law, signed last month, will boost strategic ties with India, which has nuclear weapons, but critics fear it could undermine efforts to stem nuclear proliferation.

Japan, with an eye on India's rapid economic growth, agreed last month to launch economic partnership talks and tighten ties in a number of fields during a visit to Tokyo by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The United States opposed nuclear cooperation with India for 30 years because India developed nuclear weapons in breach of international agreements and never signed the NPT.

Reuters