Australia takes Japan to Hague court on whaling
CANBERRA. May 28. KAZINFORM Australia's government on Friday announced plans for legal action against Japan to stop Southern Ocean scientific whaling, but said it did not expect retaliation from its second-biggest trading partner; Kazinform refers to China Daily.
"The Australian government has not taken this decision lightly," Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said after announcing legal papers would be lodged in the International Court of Justice in The Hague next week.
"We have been patient and committed in our efforts to find a diplomatic resolution to this issue. We have engaged in intensive discussions in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) and bilaterally with Japan," Smith said.
Whaling has been a thorny issue between the two trading partners, though both governments in the past have vowed not to let it affect ties, including growing military and security cooperation.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose popularity is slipping ahead of elections later this year, in February set Japan a November deadline to halt whaling, which his Labor government has now pre-empted.
Environmentalists have accused Rudd of backpedalling on threats of an International Court of Justice whaling challenge to avoid damaging Australia's $58 billion trade ties with Japan, and so-far slow progress on a free trade deal.
"Both Australia and Japan have agreed that, whatever our differences on whaling, this issue should not be allowed to jeopardise the strength and the growth of our bilateral relationship," Smith said.
Commercial whaling was banned under a 1986 moratorium, but Japan still culls whales for what it says is research; Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version.