This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-35128301

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Australia 'disappointed' by Japan whaling restart, PM Turnbull says Australia 'disappointed' by Japan whaling, says PM in Tokyo
(about 4 hours later)
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said his country is "very disappointed" by Japan's decision to resume whaling in the Antarctic. Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull has said he is "very disappointed" by Japan's decision to resume Antarctic whaling.
He made the comments after arriving in Tokyo for his first visit to North Asia since becoming leader of Australia. He made the comments as he began a brief visit to Tokyo, his first since becoming leader in September.
Mr Turnbull has vowed to raise the issue with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. Mr Turnbull later met Japan's PM Shinzo Abe - he has vowed to raise the whaling issue with Mr Abe, though has said it will not damage their relationship.
He is also expected to discuss territorial disputes in the South China Sea and defence co-operation. The leaders are also expected to discuss trade, defence co-operation and South China Sea territorial disputes.
Japan announced earlier this month that a whaling fleet set sail for the Antarctic after a one-year pause in the hunting programme. It sparked a formal protest by 33 countries including Australia and New Zealand. Japan suspended its Antarctic hunt last year following an International Court of Justice ruling against it.
But its whaling fleet set out for the Southern Ocean again earlier this month, with a target of 333 minke whales.
The decision to resume hunting sparked a formal protest by 33 countries, including Australia and New Zealand.
'Good friends'
Japan is Australia's second biggest trading partner after China, and as such Mr Turnbull will be keen to keep relations cordial, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Sydney.Japan is Australia's second biggest trading partner after China, and as such Mr Turnbull will be keen to keep relations cordial, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Sydney.
Essentially a trade trip, a possible multi-billion dollar deal for Japan to supply the Australian Navy with submarines is on the table, he adds. But Mr Turnbull told a news conference in Tokyo that Australia was "very disappointed that Japan has resumed whaling in the Southern Ocean".
However, on Friday in Tokyo, Mr Turnbull said Australia was "very disappointed that Japan has resumed whaling in the Southern Ocean this year". As "good friends" the two countries "should be upfront and frank about our differences of opinion, put them on the table and deal with them," he added, and should not let them "erode the good will and the rest of the relationship".
He reiterated a pledge to raise whaling with Mr Abe, saying that as "good friends" the two sides "should be upfront and frank about our differences of opinion, put them on the table and deal with them, seek to resolve them". Aside from addressing differences over whaling - an emotive subject in both countries' politics - Mr Turnbull is keen to use the trip to boost his own vision for an innovation-driven economy back home.
In 2014, Australia won a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ruled that Japan's Antarctic whaling programme was illegal. Praising Japan's commitment to technological development, he made a trip to see Asimo, the humanoid robot designed by Honda, at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo.
Japan says its hunts are carried out under a clause in the International Whaling Commission's moratorium allowing for whales to be killed for research purposes. He later posted a picture of him with the robot to Instagram.
But the ICJ ruled that the Antarctic hunt programme was insufficiently scientific to count, prompting Tokyo to suspend that hunt for a year. "There has never been a better time to be investing in the friendship between Australia and Japan," Mr Turnbull told his audience. "A strong Japan is good for our region, as is a strong Australia," he said.
Japan has since brought in a new, smaller Antarctic "research" whaling programme, but critics say it is still illegal. Australia has not ruled out resuming legal action. In their private conversations on Friday evening, Mr Abe and Mr Turnbull are also expected to discuss the South China Sea.
Neither country has territorial claims there, but both reject China's claims to almost the entire sea, at the expense of Australia and Japan's allies, and their own freedom of navigation there.
Mr Turnbull said both had "a vested interest in disputes being resolved peacefully, in accordance with international law", AFP reports.