ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Normal ties with Japan 'restored': Jaswant Singh

Ramesh Arora in Tokyo

India and Japan have restored normal political relations, ending 18 months of uncertainty following Tokyo's decision to impose sanctions against New Delhi in the wake of Pokhran nuclear tests, External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said today.

Speaking to Indian journalists in Tokyo shortly before emplaning for home, Singh said his four-day official visit had helped restore ''movement, warmth and constructive productivity'' to India-Japan relations.

''I have successfully accomplished my mission which was to end the present state of frigidity,'' said the minister who had talks with Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, besides non-government Japanese leaders.

He also had interaction with Japanese business and industry and intellectuals.

Singh said he found there was greater realisation on the part of the Japanese about India's compulsions in undertaking nuclear tests last year in the context of its security interests.

''That phase in India-Japan relations is over,'' he added.

He said the question of India signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was no longer linked to normalisation of ties. The CTBT ''is now more a conceptual hurdle than an actual hurdle,'' he added.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report