Tokyo’s huge reliance on foreign oil lead to rare discord with Washington

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Japan‘s foreign minister said Monday that his country would not stop imports of Iranian oil, striking a rare note of divergence with the United States during a visit to Washington.

After talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that focused mostly on North Korea, Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba highlighted Japan’s sanctions imposed on Iranian institutions due to concerns over its nuclear program.

But Gemba said: “I conveyed my view that there is a danger of causing damage to the entire global economy if the imports of Iranian crude oil stop.”

The United States and European powers have sought to step up global pressure on Iran after the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, came its closest yet to accusing Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons.

Japan has traditionally maintained cordial relations with Iran, although in recent years it has pared down its energy investments in the Islamic republic due to the concerns over its nuclear program.

But Japan, the world‘s third-largest economy, is heavily dependent on foreign oil as it has virtually no fossil fuel resources on its own.

In another point of divergence between the allies, Clinton pressed for action on the abductions of half-American children by their estranged Japanese partners.

Clinton said she “urged that Japan take decisive steps so that is accedes to the Hague Convention on International Parental Child Abduction and address outstanding cases.”

Japan is the only member of the Group of Eight industrialized powers that it not part of the 1980 convention that requires countries to return wrongfully held children to their countries of usual residence.

Mindful of international criticism, Japan has agreed in principle to sign the Hague treaty. But the move would only apply to future cases and not to the more than 120 ongoing cases in which U.S. parents are seeking children in Japan.

Japanese courts virtually never award custody to foreign parents.