MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Australia/Japan summit to address whaling dispute

Australia's Foreign Affairs minister Stephen Smith warned Friday of tougher action to stop Japan whaling, despite calls for calm from both sides over the increasingly emotive dispute.

Smith on a two day visit to Tokyo was holding talks just as Japan was reported to have resumed killing whales in the Antarctic Ocean following a two-week halt under pressure from environmental protesters. Smith warned of potential legal action to stop Japan's Antarctic hunt. "Australia very strongly believes that Japan should cease whaling in the Southern Ocean" he told a news conference. The current Australian government has ramped up pressure by sending a customs ship to monitor the hunt. Smith said Australia was also considering appointing a diplomatic envoy to press its case. "We are giving very careful consideration to the possibility of taking international legal action in respect of this matter" he added. But Smith, who met Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda earlier Friday, said the row should not hurt the long-standing alliance between Australia and Japan. "Whereas we have a strong disagreement, this is not an issue which in my view is or can or will adversely impact upon the fundamentals about the partnership with Japan," he said. Fukuda called for calm over the dispute. "The whaling issue is a matter of each country's circumstances" Fukuda told reporters after the meeting. "It's important to address the whaling issue in a calm manner." Japan aims to slaughter about 1,000 whales this year in Antarctic waters despite strong opposition from Western countries led by Australia and environmental groups who revere the giant mammals. Tokyo argues that whaling is part of its culture and accuses Western nations of cultural insensitivity. It uses a loophole in a 1986 global whaling moratorium that allows lethal research. Australian media reports said Friday that the customs ship took footage of the Japanese killing five whales, resuming the hunt some two weeks after it was halted by protesters. Activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in mid-January climbed aboard the Japanese harpoon ship to deliver a protest, setting off a two-day standoff.