Serious 'resistance' by China, Japan against Project Stormfury





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A cable from February 1975, presents the strong opposition of the Japanese government against US plans to transfer Project Stormfury to the Western Pacific, as it had strong concerns about possible negative effects in the region. As described in the summary:





GOJ [Government Of Japan] has delivered strongly negative reaction to U.S. proposal for transfer of project Stormfury to Western Pacific and has expressed hope that U.S. will not introduce resolution on this matter at ESCAP [Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific] meeting beginning Feb. 25.









The Japanese Government responded through Eijiro Noda, Deputy General of UN Bureau at the time. Some interesting parts:





The Government of Japan has no objection to the effect that the typhoon modification experiment would provide new meteorological data on typhoons and significantly contribute toward the development of meterology and, in particular, toward the explication of typhoon structures and activities. However, it has not been made clear how that rainfall or the directions of typhoons will be affected by seeding typhoons. The Government of Japan, therefore, has been apprehensive whether such experiment might cause other types of damage to other regions which otherwise, would not be affected.





If such experiments are made on typhoons in the West Pacific, which have far more enormous energy than the hurricanes in the Atlantic, a possibility cannot be excluded of causing other types of damage which otherwise would not be caused. The government of japan, with its responsibility for the life and property of the Japanese nationals, cannot accept such an eventuality.





The Government of Japan cannot agree, at this stage, to the proposal by the United States Government on the transfer of the Stormfury Project to the Pacific Ocean. if the United States Government make such proposal, at the 31st session of ESCAP by resenting a resolution, for example, the Government of Japan would be obliged to vote against it.





The cable describes also some thoughts from US official to overcome Japanese strong opposition of the matter:





Embassy continues to believe that best tactic for accomplishing transfer of Stormfury without risking major japanese protest is by allowing other countries of region to seek positive consensus, including Japan, on basis of positive benefits of Project in learning to reduce typhoon damages.





Full cable:









Yet, it seems that the US failed to get positive positions from other countries on the matter. Another cable from September 1975, reveals strong concerns and opposition from the Chinese government too. A key part from the Chinese response:





On july 19 and october 9, 1974, the United States Liaison Office in China twice handed over information concerning the proposed transfer of Project Stormfury to the Western Pacific and sought China's opinion on the matter. We noted the indication of the United States that it would not put the project into effect without the approval of the countries concerned. China's departments concerned have made a study of the proposal and our official reply is a follows: being a country considerably affected by typhoons, China cannot approve the conducting of the project when its consequences are uncertain.







