Japan denies aid-for-whaling report

Japan kills about 500 minke whales each year under its scientific program

TOKYO, Japan -- Japan has moved to deflect criticism from revelations Tokyo used aid money as a lure to harvest support to lift a whaling ban.

Remarks by the head of Japan's Fisheries Agency that Japan used international aid money to support its whaling program were denied in an internal agency document on Thursday.

The official, Masayuki Komatsu, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday that the minke whale was a "cockroach" and that Japan used the inducement of development aid to win support for its campaign to lift an international ban on whaling.

In the ABC interview, Komatsu said Japan had to use the "tools" of diplomatic communications and promises of aid to influence members of the IWC.

"Japan does not have military powers, unlike the U.S. or Australia," he said.

"It is natural we must resort to those two major tools."

He defended Japan's stance, saying there was nothing wrong with this approach.

The minke whale, the species most commonly killed by Japanese whalers, was "a cockroach in the oceans," he added.

'No truth'

The agency document, obtained by Reuters, said Komatsu was quoted out of context.

"After checking with Komatsu, we found that there was no truth to such remarks," the agency document said. "We understand that he said something about aid in general and this was designed to raise international confidence in Japan."

Komatsu's comments come just one week before the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is due to meet in London on July 23.

Japan -- the world's biggest consumer of whale meat and also the number one aid donor -- is one country allowed under a 15-year-old international moratorium to catch a certain number of whales for scientific research.

It kills almost 500 minke whales a year under its scientific whaling program, and is campaigning for a rollback of a 1986 worldwide ban on commercial whaling.

Integrity questioned

Observers suspect Japan uses scientific research as a way of getting around the ban

Conservationalists have been opposing Japan's whaling program, supporting the stance of other Pacific nations as Australia and New Zealand which are vying to create a South Pacific whale sanctuary.

Environmental group, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), said Japan's revelations brought into question the integrity of the International Whaling Commission (IWC).

"The IWC is fighting for its survival, and credibility is crucial for that fight," Cassandra Phillips, WWF's Senior Policy Advisor on Whales and Antarctica said in a statement.

"WWF can only conclude that this is an attempt by Japan to push the IWC to the verge of collapse so that it would once again be free to whale as chooses."

Report 'insulting'

Denying it used international aid to shore up support for its whaling campaign, the Fisheries Agency said Tokyo had extended economic aid to more than 150 countries, including anti-whaling nations such as India and Brazil.

"The fact that the recipients of Japanese aid include those countries that stand against whaling clearly shows that the aid from our country does not influence their policies," the internal document said.

"The report makes it sound as if a country's policies can be traded for money and insults the recipients of our aid," it said.

Six Caribbean countries voted with Japan last year on nearly every motion at the IWC, including the defeat of a proposal to create a South Pacific whale sanctuary.

The WWF in its statement said the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester Bird confirmed in an interview with the Caribbean News Agency that his country does vote with Japan in the IWC because of the financial aid that they have been given.

Reuters contributed to this report.