Nikkei: "Obama Administration Expressed Grave Concern Over Japan's "No-Nuke by 2030(s)" Policy, Japan Dutifully Scrapped It" (and Nikkei Scrapped the Article 5 Days Later)

Japanese media has been saying for some time that it was the US government who pressured the Noda administration to drop the "zero nuke by 2030" (which morphed into "zero nuke sometime in 2030s) from its new nuclear and environmental policy decision. Tokyo Shinbun reported it a while ago, and now Nikkei Shinbun just reported it with more details. There is no news reported in the US on the matter.

The difference of the Nikkei Shinbun's article is that it names names: President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

It's hard for me to believe that this president has time for trivial matters like actually governing the affairs inside and outside the US in the election year (he must be very busy right now preparing for the big "debate"), but that's what Nikkei Shinbun wants us to believe. The article also mentions Secretary of State Clinton pressuring the Noda administration officials by strongly indicating it was the wish of President Obama and the US Congress that Japan scrap that silly nuclear energy policy.

And then, one added twist: the Nikkei article has disappeared.

The particular article was published on September 25. Nikkei is one of the better ones in retaining the links to the articles, but not in this case. It was still on Nikkei's site as of yesterday, I bookmarked it to write about it later. When I clicked on the link this morning, it was gone.

However, thanks to this blogger, the article was preserved just the way I read it yesterday.

So, here's Nikkei article that has disappeared (9/25/2012; emphasis is mine):

米、原発継続要請は「大統領の意向」

The US request that Japan continue nuclear power plant is "the President's idea"

2012/9/25 0:12

野田政権がエネルギー・環境戦略で掲げた「2030年代に原発ゼロ」の政府方針を巡り、米政府が「オバマ大統領の意向」として強力に見直しを求めていたことがわかった。核不拡散・平和利用に向けた日米協力の枠組みが崩壊しかねないとの懸念が背景。結局閣議決定を見送ったが、あいまいな決着の火だねは今後もくすぶりそうだ。

It has been revealed that the United States government was strongly urging [the Japanese government] to reconsider its policy of "zero nukes in 2030s" which was part of the energy and environmental strategy of the Noda administration, as "President Obama wishes it". [The US objection] was based on the fear that the framework of Japan-US cooperation for non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear energy might collapse [under the new policy]. [The Noda administration] eventually shelved the cabinet decision, but this ambiguous resolution may cause further trouble in the future.

複数の当局関係者によると野田政権が８月以降、原発ゼロの明文化に動く過程で米側は日本政府に対し、「国家最高指導者レベルでの協議の結果だ」としてゼロ方針を再考するよう要請。オバマ大統領以下、政権の総意との見解を伝えた。

According to the multiple government sources, as the Noda administration was moving in August toward explicitly putting down "zero nuke" in the official document, the US strongly requested that Japan reconsider the "zero nuke" policy, saying the request was "the result of discussion at the highest level of the government", indicating it was the Obama administration's consensus, from the president on down.

９月８日にはロシア・ウラジオストクでのアジア太平洋経済協力会議（ＡＰＥＣ）首脳会議で野田佳彦首相がクリントン国務長官と会談。ここでも大統領を代理する形で同国務長官が懸念を表明した。表面上はあからさまな批判を控える一方、大統領と米議会を前面に押し出し日本への圧力を強めた。

On September 8, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with the US Secretary of State Clinton during the APEC meeting in Vladivostok in Russia. Here again, representing the US president, Secretary Clinton expressed concern. While avoiding the overt criticism of the Noda administration's policy, she further pressured Japan by stressing that it was President Obama and the US Congress who were concerned.

日本政府は12日、長島昭久首相補佐官らを米に緊急派遣し、日本の対応に業を煮やすホワイトハウス高官らと直接協議。戦略を参考文書扱いとし、米側の視点からは路線転換を見送ったと読めるようにする「玉虫色の決着」（日本当局）で決定的な対立を回避した。

The Noda administration sent its officials, including Special Advisor to Prime Minister Akihisa Nagashima, to the US on an urgent mission to directly discuss matters with the high-ranking White House officials who were frustrated with the Japanese response. By treating the new strategy as only a reference material, the Noda administration averted the confrontation with the US with the "equivocal" resolution (according to the Japanese government source) which allowed the US to interpret the Japanese action as shelving the zero nuke policy.

米政府は、日本の脱原発への方針転換で「米のエネルギー戦略が直接的な打撃を被る懸念が高まった」（エネルギー省元副長官のマーチン氏）とみている。日本の原発政策はオバマ政権の核不拡散や地球温暖化防止に向けた環境政策とも密接な関係にあるためだ。

(According to Former Deputy Energy Secretary Martin,) the US government thinks that "The US energy strategy would be more likely to suffer a direct damage" because of the Japan's policy change toward zero nuclear energy. It is because the Japanese nuclear policy is closely linked also to the nuclear non-proliferation and environmental policies aimed at preventing the global warming under the Obama administration.

日米は1988年発効した原子力協定で、青森県六ケ所村での核燃料サイクル施設ならば米の事前同意なく再処理を認める包括方式で合意。日本は核兵器を持たず、プルトニウムの平和利用を担保する最重要の役割を担っている。

In the Atomic Energy Agreement effective as of 1988, Japan and the US agreed to a blanket statement that as long as it is at the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, reprocessing of the nuclear fuel is allowed without prior consent from the US. Japan's most important role [in the agreement] is to secure the peaceful use of plutonium without possessing nuclear weapons.

現行の日米協定の期限が切れる18年に向け、早ければ来年にも非公式な事前協議に着手する必要がある。なお猶予があるとはいえ日本が原発政策を不明瞭な形で放置すれば米が再処理許可の更新などに難色を示す恐れもある。「協定改定の先行きが読めなくなった」（日本政府関係者）との声が出ている。

The current Japan-US agreement will expire in 2018, and the government will need to start preliminary, unofficial discussions [with the US] as early as next year. There is some time before the expiration of the agreement, but if Japan leaves its nuclear policy in vague terms the US may object to renewal of permission for nuclear fuel reprocessing. Some (in the Japanese government) say "We are not sure any more what will happen to the renewal of the agreement."

（ワシントン＝矢沢俊樹）

Never mind that Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant, after 19 years of building the facility, is still incomplete, and its operation remains a "trial run".

The US presidential election is on November 6. Why was the Noda administration in such a hurry to have its long-term nuclear policy shot down by the US administration which may or may not be there in a month? My personal conclusion is that Prime Minister Noda wanted to ditch the policy but needed the pretext of "gaiatsu" (external pressure).

And why did Nikkei pull the article?

On the separate news, the Atomic Energy Commission of Japan has just said it will abandon the effort to draw up the Nuclear Energy General Principles. With the establishment of the government's new energy and environmental strategy which left out "zero nuke" policy, the Principles will be decided upon, from now on, by the ministers in charge in a given administration.

Japanese politicians deciding the Principles. (How much more oxymoronic can you get?)

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