Blood at Yellow Water (5 page)

He turned off when he saw the sign to the
Yellow Water Resort, a newly built hotel on the edge of the Yellow
Water wetlands, which was the venue for the conference. The hotel
was magnificent taking the shape of a turtle. It was extensive with
two stories set into a tropical landscape surrounded by pools,
waterfalls, gardens and a golf course.

Jake pulled into the car park and entered
the hotel lobby. The foyer was tastefully furnished with huge
aboriginal dot paintings and wildlife murals decorating the
walls.

The entire hotel had been booked out for the
conference and security was particularly tight. His identity was
checked by a security official and he was ushered to a reception
desk manned by one of the hotel staff and a DFAT official who gave
him his room key, identity card, programme and briefing pack. He
found his way into his room on to the second floor and gratefully
sat down on a lounge chair, still slightly shaken from his ordeal.
He grabbed a beer from the mini-bar, stripped off and took a long
cool shower, feeling the tension gradually easing from his body. He
looked around the hotel room which was small but comfortable with a
view of the tropical gardens and beyond that of the wetlands. The
walls were painted in earth colours and adorned by prints of
tropical flowers and the wetlands. There was a king-sized bed, two
lounge chairs, a coffee table and a small desk with internet
connection along one wall. He sipped his beer and settled into a
lounge chair reading the programme and briefing material for the
conference. He had an hour before his first meeting with the
Australian officials’ delegation at 5 p.m.

Jake’s role in the lead up to the
negotiations had been to persuade key Japanese officials to provide
improved access into the Japanese market for Australian exports of
goods and services, particularly in the agricultural area. As
Senior Trade Commissioner he had the diplomatic title of Minister
Commercial in the Australian Embassy and had developed excellent
rapport with officials from the Japanese ministries involve in
international trade and various Japanese business groups and key
corporations. His fluency in Japanese, knowledge of Japanese
business practices and network of contacts in the government
bureaucracy had been instrumental in bringing the Japanese to the
negotiating table. He had earned grudging respect from senior staff
of the Australian Embassy in Tokyo who often treated the
non-diplomatic staff as poor cousins.

Jake was assigned to the working party
looking at market access which had been the main sticking point in
previous negotiations. From Australia’s point of view the central
issue was access to the Japanese market for agricultural products
where Japan had been reluctant to open up its markets for products
such as wheat, beef, sugar, fruit and vegetables, rice and dairy
products, mainly due to resistance from its politically powerful
farmers’ lobby groups. While there was a trade agreement between
the two countries, tariffs and quantitative restrictions remained
on imports into Japan of many of Australia’s key agricultural
commodities.

Jake had been working with several
Australian companies in the services industries such as education,
tourism, health, finance and legal, and had often come up against
government controls and other impediments to breaking into the
Japanese market. Japan had similar concerns for its high technology
industries operating in Australia including some intellectual
property issues so both countries were looking for mechanisms to
safeguard these growing areas of trade.

Japan had tabled a request for the removal
of all tariffs on motor vehicles and auto parts entering Australia
from Japan. While the tariffs were small, only 5% of the value of
imports, Australia had refused this request in the past because of
competition from cheap imports which threatened the survival of its
car components industry. The Australian Government had also made
clear its dissatisfaction with the decision by the giant Toyota
Motor Corporation to close its vehicle manufacturing plants in
Australia by 2017, despite being the recipient of large subsidies
over many years from the Australian Government. In the wake of
other plant closures in Australia by foreign car producers, this
decision signified the complete demise of car production in
Australia.

Japan had made strong representations over
Australian foreign investment laws and was seeking the removal of
restrictions on its present and future investments in Australia. In
particular it wanted to be able to increase its investment in
mining operations in Australia beyond the current government
imposed limitation on foreign ownership of below 50%. This was a
particular sore point for the Japanese in sourcing uranium from the
new plant at Jabiru as they wanted to have long term security of
supplies for their nuclear reactors. Japan also wanted to set up a
mechanism to settle disputes on its vast investments in
Australia.

Defence cooperation had been ongoing between
the two countries for many years but had increased in importance
with the expanding presence of China in the Asia Pacific region.
China’s threatening advances over disputed ownership of several
island groups in the East China Sea had made Japan’s government
hierarchy increasingly nervous about Chinese ambitions.
Consequently Japan had entered into a defence and security
agreement with the USA and was anxious to enter into a similar
arrangement with Australia as a significant player in the Asia
Pacific region. The meetings were expected to draw together and
strengthen a number of defence and security arrangements between
the two countries, both informal and formal, and combine them into
one treaty.

Japan was also very keen to secure the
contract to supply Australia with twelve submarines it required to
replace its outdated fleet. Each submarine would cost about $2
billion to build and the Australian defence ministry was about to
make a decision on the bids it had received. The short list was
down to bids from Japan, Sweden, Germany and the Australian
Shipyard Corporation. The decision had to be approved by the
Australian Cabinet which was divided between those members
favouring the cheapest supplier with the best technological
capability (Japan) and the Australian bidder which would provide
the maximum Australian content in manufacturing and technology.

Jake walked into the meeting a few minutes
to five, noting that all the Australian officials were already
there. Despite the tropical setting he was the only one of the men
not dressed in collar and tie. He shook hands with the Chair of the
meeting, Jenny Antrim, the Deputy Secretary of DFAT, who he had met
before and liked, nodded to Ambassador Robert Connell, helped
himself to a coffee and a biscuit and sat down for the meeting.
Antrim made the introductions before outlining the arrangements for
the officials’ talks and the subsequent ministerial
discussions.

She explained there would be two days of
joint working group sessions by senior officials on the major
topics of market access, investment and services and defence and
security cooperation. The groups would report their conclusions to
a Plenary Session of Ministers, led by the respective Ministers for
Foreign Affairs and Trade, Anna Sentoro and Norio Hayashi and
Defence Ministers, Malcolm Crichton and Mitsuo Kenichi.

The Japanese and Australian Prime Ministers
were scheduled to arrive on the Tuesday afternoon and would start
their program with a boat cruise over the Yellow Water wetlands,
followed by a private working dinner at the hotel. On Wednesday
they would play golf in the morning and join ministers and
officials for the talks in the afternoon. The plan was that the
Prime Ministers would hopefully finalise the talks on the Thursday
and sign off the agreement sometime that afternoon. On Friday they
would perform their final official duty and launch the opening of
the new uranium mine at a luncheon on site at Jabiru.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Jenny
Antrim allocated officials to the working groups and outlined goals
to reach positions for the ministerial talks. They were to work on
tactics that evening and meet again over breakfast to finalise
their positions. Then she suggested they all meet for an informal
dinner in one hour’s time where they would meet up with the
Australian business delegates. She called Jake aside as the
delegates left the room.

“Jake I understand you play golf? The
Japanese Foreign Minister, Norio Hayashi, was going to play in the
foursome on Wednesday morning but has to pull out because of a
wrist injury.”

“I haven’t played for years Jenny, I’m sure
someone else would make a better partner for Japanese P.M. Koshi
Ogawa. I’m involved heavily in the officials’ talks on Wednesday
morning. What about Ambassador Connell?”

“I’ve talked to Connell and he suggested you
because of your fluency in Japanese. Others can fill in for you in
the talks in the morning. It’s more likely the P.M.’s will discuss
key issues during the game so you would be more useful there than
in the officials’ talks.”

Jake sensed that he had been set up by
Connell who knew he rarely played golf and could well embarrass
himself in front of the two Prime Ministers. He also knew he
couldn’t refuse the request.

“I guess I’ll have to agree Jenny but I
won’t be a great partner for Koshi-san.”

“That doesn’t matter, the Australian P.M. is
a sports freak and loves to win any contest, especially against a
world leader.”

Jake went back to his room, annoyed at the
request, and began going through the briefing papers. After a
while, he wandered down to the dining area where the Australian
officials and business delegates were milling around having
pre-dinner drinks. He chatted with a number of the key business
representatives before spotting the head of security John
Carstairs, a short thickset ex-military man. He introduced himself
and mentioned to Carstairs the conversation he had overheard
between the two Chinese at Daly Waters and that he had passed on
the information to Jim Williams from the Australian Embassy in
Tokyo.

Carstairs asked him to outline his
understanding of the discussion and indicated that he had already
talked to Williams.

“It seems a bit thin that they would be
plotting some kind of terrorist attack, especially from a nowhere
place like Daly Waters. I assure you that we have tight security
over every aspect of the visit of the two Prime Ministers,
including the opening of the mine. There is no way anyone could get
through our security net. So don’t worry, we’re in control of the
situation,” stated Carstairs.

Their discussion was interrupted by the
arrival of the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade,
Anna Sentoro, who made a short speech welcoming the business
delegates and officials and invited them all to take their seats at
the dining table. Jake looked for his name plate and sat down next
to Felix Sherbel, the Operations Manager of Energet, the Australian
partner that owned 51% of the new uranium mine at Jabiru.

Jake had scant knowledge of Energet, a
little known mining exploration company which had found the new
lode of uranium and had quickly developed a commercial enterprise
in partnership with some major Australian investors and the huge
Japanese conglomerate, Nippan Energy which owned the other 49% of
the mine. The Japanese company was successful in becoming a partner
in the mine despite fierce competition from Chinese mining
interests.

After an investment of $300 million,
production from the mine had now come on stream. The first output
of yellow cake had been loaded on to railway trucks for transport
via a new rail link to the port of Darwin for on-shipment to Osaka.
This was to be launched jointly by the Prime Ministers on
Friday.

Jake introduced himself to Sherbel and after
exchanging the usual pleasantries, quizzed him about the
development of the mine. Sherbel explained that the new mine had
the richest reserves of uranium in the world which were estimated
to last twenty years and the ore production was to be supplied
exclusively to Japan, initially under a ten year contract. After a
few drinks, Sherbel opened up a little and indicated the Australian
Government had intervened at the highest level to overcome
environmental issues and the concerns of the local aboriginal
people over land rights, thereby ensuring the development of the
mine. When Jake asked why there was so much interest in the mine by
both the Australian and Japanese governments given the current low
world price for uranium and availability of uranium from other
parts of the world, Sherbel gave a secretive smile and a glib
answer about the high quality of the uranium coming from the Jabiru
mine. He also dodged Jake’s question as to the actual owners of
Energet. Jake wondered about his evasiveness but could not get
anything more out of him.

Dinner completed, the business
representatives and officials dispersed to separate conference
rooms to take their places in the various working groups. At the
end of the sessions, each group reported back to Jenny Antrim on
the agreed tactics for meeting with the Japanese the next day.
Everyone then retired to their hotel rooms.

Jake, tired but not yet ready for sleep,
wandered into the bar at the hotel, ordered a beer and looked
around. A voice called out to him.

“Hey Jake, over here”. He looked around and
saw sitting down in a corner couch, Helen Kwang, the Asian
Economics Editor for the “National” newspaper. He wandered over and
lowered himself into a chair alongside her.

“Hi Helen, I wasn’t expecting you to be
here.”

“Yep, I drew the lucky straw and was
accredited to cover the conference for the National. I thought
you’d be here. I’ve just done an interview with Anna Sentoro. I’d
thought I’d come in early and look around Kakadu before the
conference starts.”