U.S.-Japan Aviation Talks End Without Agreement
April 28, 2011
TOKYO -- Two days of working-level aviation talks between Japan and the U.S. ended in Tokyo Friday without any agreement, a Japanese Transport Ministry official said. The U.S. negotiators said they didn't have a mandate to talk about the subject which Japan wanted to discuss: renegotiation of a 1952 bilateral aviation pact, the official said. Instead, the U.S. wanted to discuss requests by Federal Express, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines for approval to make more flights via Japan to other Asian destinations, he said. No date for another round of talks was set, the official said. Another senior ministry negotiator said, ``I feel deceived,'' adding that the U.S. had originally said it would give Japanese and U.S. concerns equal priority in the round of talks. Japan is seeking a complete review of the 1952 treaty. It claims the agreement grants unfairly large leeway to U.S. carriers to exercise ``beyond rights'' past Japan, meaning U.S. carriers can pick up passengers during stopovers in Japan and carry them to other destinations in Asia. Japan sees these ``beyond rights'' as a threat to its airline industry. It is also seeking to expand opportunities for both nations' air carriers. However, due to the U.S. insistence that the flight expansion requests by its three carriers be dealt with first, no headway was made during the latest talks, said Marty Hurdle, director of the international air transportation division at the Ministry of Transportation. ``I'm very much disappointed by the stubborn stance taken by the U.S. side,'' said Mr. Hurdle, who noted Japan is prepared to discuss both the cargo and passenger aviation issues. ``It is the U.S.'s turn to move toward our position,'' he said. In response to Tokyo's failure to permit flights to third countries from Japan, the U.S. has started sanctions proceedings against Japan Airlines' cargo flights to the U.S. Mr. Hurdle said he isn't worried about the possibility of sanctions, pointing out that the U.S. would be violating the 1952 treaty if it decided to do so. According to the treaty, if consultations between the two nations over an aviation dispute fail, the case must be submitted for arbitration, he said. A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Tokyo declined to comment on the latest talks, saying ``any reaction and characterization will come out of Washington'' later Friday.
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