Round The World
New
Delhi, 30 May 2013
PM’s Japan Visit
STRIKING A COMMON
STRATEGY
By Monish
Tourangbam
Associate
Fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New
Delhi
India-Japan
relations have acquired a strategic purpose and struck the right chord following
Manmohan Singh’s just concluded visit to Japan for the Prime Ministers Annual
Summit. Namely, to stand up against China’s aggressive posture in the
region, much to the Chinese chagrin. Importantly, not only did it cement
complementariness in ties across a broad spectrum of issues, but also signalled
New Delhi’s resolve to take bolder steps towards lending substance to the
Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan.
Undeniably,
from border incursions in Eastern Ladakh to maritime disputes in East China and
the South China Seas,
Chinese behaviour has unsettled countries in the region.
Expectedly,
the changing tone of India-Japan ties has caused unease among the Chinese
strategic circle, which senses a hedging strategy in the new developments,
coupled with interest shown by the Americans like say a US-India-Japan
trilateral dialogue. Add to this the increasing cooperation envisioned in
India-Japan defence ties, one has a recipe for an instant Chinese reaction.
Pertinently, as the
Japanese hosted PM Singh, the Communist Party of China’s official newspaper People’s Daily carried an editorial which
strongly counselled that New Delhi’s wisdom lay
in dealing with its disputes with Beijing
calmly undisturbed by “internal and international provocateurs.” It also lashed
out at Japanese politicians, terming them “petty burglars” on China-related
issues.
Indeed,
New Delhi’s burgeoning and diverse ties with Tokyo is a vital component of
India’s look east policy, that commensurate with its efforts to connect with
East Asian and South-East Asian countries through a string of regional
organisations, covering political and economic fronts. Both countries have a
common interest in furthering their economic ties, bilateral engagements and
striving for more joint endeavours around the world.
Towards
that end, there has been a steady growth of political exchanges, dialogue and policy coordination
at all levels, including the Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue and the
Ministerial Level Economic Dialogue. And, Japan
is the only country with which India
has a 2-plus-2 Dialogue between the Foreign and Defence Ministries.
Moreover,
taking cognisance to the persisting issues of transparent and secure navigation
of the seas, New Delhi and Tokyo
have also tightened their cooperation in the maritime sector, instituting the bilateral Maritime Affairs
Dialogue, the first meeting of which was held on 29 January in Delhi. This followed the first bilateral exercise
between the Indian Navy (IN) and Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) off
the Japan coast held in June
last year and joint exercises between the two Coast Guards off Chennai’s
coast in January 2012 and Tokyo
Bay in November last.
Also, both sides decided to establish
a Joint Working Group (JWG) to explore modalities for taking forward Japan's offer
of US-2 amphibious aircraft. According to sources, this follows the Indian
Navy's Request for Information (RFI) for nine amphibious SAR (Search and
Rescue) aircrafts.
Further, the joint statement resulting from Manmohan Singh’s visit
states that Japan
would continue its Official Development Assistance at a substantial level. Both
sides welcomed the Exchange of Notes signing of 71billion yen loan for the
"Mumbai Metro Line-III project”, along-with the 353.106 billion yen loan for
eight projects in 2012 fiscal year. Japan
also pledged 17.7 billion yen for the Campus Development Project of Indian
Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
(Phase 2) and 13 billion yen for the "Tamil Nadu Investment Promotion
Programme”.
Besides, increasing cooperation was
envisioned between the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry and Japan’s Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry (METI)
in the framework of India’s
"National Manufacturing Policy” in industrial human resource development
and business environment improvement.
Japan also offered support for
introducing high speed railway system in India, and a decision was taken to
co-finance a joint feasibility study of High Speed Railway system on the
Mumbai-Ahmedabad route. In fact, the Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA) underscored greatly enhancing economic and trade relations, even
as it continued efforts to further increase trade in goods and services as well
as investments.
The two Prime
Ministers satisfactorily assessed the progress in India-Japan energy dialogues
and stressed the importance of increasing cooperation in the energy sector, including
in areas of renewable energy and energy conservation, Clean Coal Technologies (CCT),
institutional issues and transmission and distribution system in power sector.
Though
both sides reiterated the importance of fast pacing negotiations towards an
early conclusion of the India-Japan civilian nuclear agreement, some divergence
of views were noted when it came to signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), that New
Delhi considers discriminatory in nature.
While Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe stressed the importance of bringing into force the CTBT at an early
date, Manmohan Singh reiterated India’s
commitment to its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive
testing. The Cabinet Secretariat’s Councillor Tomohiko Taniguchi on
being asked whether India
inking the NPT is linked with progress on the civil nuclear cooperation
agreement said, “Everything is linked to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT).”
Therefore, Japan’s
commitment to the NPT and CTBT should be understood in context of it being the only
country in world history which has actually borne the brunt of a nuclear bomb.
Consequently, the domestic pressures to include clauses and conditions which
would preserve its reputation as one of the strictest followers of the
non-proliferation regime are understandable.
Furthermore, given New Delhi-Tokyo’s India-
comprehensive convergence and meeting of minds on the larger question of safety
and non-proliferation standards of nuclear technology and materials, one can be
fairly confident of the two countries finding a way to fructify their civilian
nuclear energy cooperation. Against the backdrop that Japan supported India’s full
membership in international export control regimes: Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile
Technology Control Regime, Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
Undoubtedly, when it comes to India-Japan
relations, China
is the elephant in the room, thus strategic worries abound regarding its ‘not
so peaceful rise’. True, managing Beijing’s
rise does not amount to preparing for another hot war, which is hardly
imaginable in today’s globalized world wherein economic ties often go hand-in-hand
with rivalries at the strategic level. Yet, the presence of economic linkages might
not translate into strategic convergences, and hence it is imperative to take a
long-term view and prepare for the worst.
In sum, with concerns of a rising China
which increasingly sees Asia as its exclusive zone of sphere, Japan should realize the importance of India as a power balancer in Asia.
With New Delhi-Tokyo ties continuing to hit the
right notes it would open new vistas of mutual inter-dependence.
Certainly Japan
is one of India’s most
promising partners in East Asia and the continuing convergence between the two
would surely pay dividends for a stable Asia. As
Manmohan Singh said, “…Our discussions were guided by the fundamental belief
that at a time of global uncertainties, change and challenges, India and Japan
are natural and indispensable partners for advancing prosperity in our two
countries and for a peaceful, stable, cooperative and prosperous future for the
Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.” ----
INFA
(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)
|