While Wellington and Tokyo must agree to disagree over Japan's whaling program, the issue should not impede trade ties, visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Thursday.
"It's a difference of opinion," she said in an interview in Tokyo with The Japan Times and other news organizations, adding that "on the vast majority of things, New Zealand and Japan agree." Clark is in Japan on a six-day visit primarily aimed at promoting bilateral business and trade. About 13.5 percent of New Zealand's exports go to Japan, making it New Zealand's third-largest trading partner.
Her center-left government has been one of the harshest critics of Tokyo's whaling policy. Because the catches usually end up in the stomachs of Japanese, Clark has accused Japan of disguising commercial whaling behind a scientific veil.