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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