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position, position, position .....
Australian and Japanese government officials discussed a proposal to allow Japan to hunt more whales in the northern Pacific in exchange for ceasing kills near Antarctica, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.
Smith said discussions were held between officials and the International Whaling Commission and there isn’t a proposal before the Australian government. A formal plan would have to be drafted for a meeting of the commission in March, he said.
"Suggestions of this nature have been made at official levels,” Smith told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio when asked about the plan today. “That’s a long way from the government agreeing to them.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aZZ0ZvCSraIM&refer=uk
- By Gus Leonisky at 27 Jan 2009 - 11:14pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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a small big issue.
Japanese officials believe the Rudd Government is willing to risk Australia's relationship with Japan to help it win the election.
The recent decision to take Japan to the International Court of Justice to try to end its "scientific whaling" program has been anticipated for years.
It was a 2007 election commitment but was only initiated a week ago because the legal case is so fraught.
But the manner in which it was announced - on the same day Labor ditched an election commitment on political advertising - appalled the Japanese Government.
Japanese officials have told the ABC that "on balance" it is hard to escape the conclusion that the Australian Government is prepared to risk the relationship for domestic political ends.
When asked to comment, the Foreign Minister's office reissued a statement Stephen Smith made on May 28, when he announced the court action.
Then he said he had spoken to his counterpart and they had agreed that, "if Australia determined to initiate legal proceedings, we would not allow such legal action to disturb the relationship".
The Japanese believe it is affecting the relationship. Officials noted that Mr Smith had repeatedly said that the disagreement over whaling was a small matter but, in their view, it was a large one.
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Go for it: stop whaling... see toon at top.