Round The World
New Delhi, 24 March 2023
Kishida Dashes To Delhi
DISCERNING HIS PRIORITIES
By Dr. D.K. Giri
(Prof. International Relations,
JIMMC)
The Japanese Prime Minister Fumio
Kishida dashed to Delhi for two days, last Monday and Tuesday, precisely for 27
hours. Media is abuzz with interpretations of his sudden and short visit; it is
quite apparent that he was here to unveil his project on Free and Open
Indo-Pacific (FOIP) which he had announced to do in the Shangri-La Dialogue in
Singapore last June. His visit coincided with that of Xi Jinping to Moscow to show
solidarity with Putin at war with Ukraine.
Note that Kishida flew from here to
Kiev to express his support for Zelenskyy. So the predominant purpose of his
visit to Delhi was obviously to discuss the war with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi as he (Kishida) holds the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima in May, and he would
like to mobilise support from major countries, including India against ‘Russian
aggression’ in Ukraine.
Tokyo and New Delhi have divergent responses
to the Ukrainian war. Japan has joined the US-led allies on the war in imposing
sanctions against Russia and selling arms to Ukraine. Japan views the Russian
military action in Ukraine as the clear violation of international norms and
causes disruption in food and fertilizers security in addition to tragic human
and material losses. India’s reaction is muted; New Delhi has not called out
Russia as an aggressor, not joined the sanction regime, and in fact has bought
oil from Russia to the chagrin of western countries.
While India and Japan’s relations
are quite close, it is anyone’s guess if New Delhi will shift its position for
G-7 Summit or G-20 in September, which India is presiding. Interestingly, while
Xi Jinping is perhaps nudging Putin to go for solution to the conflict, Kishida
is persuading India to take position against both China and Russia.
In fact, containing China for the
stability and security in India-Pacific region is another main purpose, equally
important for Japan, for Kishida’s visit. In concrete terms, Tokyo has
formulated the strategy called Free and Open India-Pacific (FOIP) which
dovetails with Japan’s National Security Strategy adopted last December. Among
other things, the strategy suggests deployment of cruise missiles to strengthen
their strike-back capability as Japan faces continual missile threats from
North Korea, an ally of China. It also advocates using development aid more
strategically in support of like-minded countries. The FOIP flows from this
strategy.
Kishida announced and outlined the
FOIPin the Sapru House lecture delivered in Indian Council of World Affairs
(ICWA). It is estimated that FOIP is a whopping 75 billion USD project to check
China’s growing influence and assertiveness across the region. It consists of
providing patrol vessels, enhancing maritime law enforcement and capabilities,
maintaining cyber security, digital and green initiatives and economic security.
In order to do so, FOIP suggests enhancement of human resource for maritime
security, rule of law and governance in at least 20 countries by training 2300
personnel.
Furthermore, Japan is seeking to extend
assistance to emerging economies around India-Pacific region in terms of
equipments like patrol boats, provisions for coastguards and other
infrastructure support. In particular, Japan has committed in FOIP two-billion
USD for maritime security equipment, enhancement of transport infrastructure
needed for freedom of navigation and rule-based order in the region. Tokyo
maintains that India is an indispensable partner and should play a big role in
this project because of its geo-political location and New Delhi’s risks with
Beijing.
Japan and India’s security interests
converge as Beijing has been nibbling away India’s territories by making
incredible and illegitimate claims on Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh. Since 2020,
India has been in intermittent conflicts with China as 20 Indian soldiers and
unaccounted Chinese soldiers died in unprovoked clashes. Likewise, Japan is
deeply concerned as Beijing claims territories in East China Sea including
Senkaku Islands belonging to Japan and entire South China Sea. Such claims have
rattled Beijing’s smaller neighbours including Japan. FOIP, therefore, is
clearly aimed at countering China’s egregious expansionism.
Note that 15 years ago Shinzo Abe
spoke about India-Pacific cooperation during his visit to Delhi. Quad
consisting of USA, Australia, Japan and India was created out of this
initiative by Japan. Quad does not have anovert security agenda although Quad
members are engaged in ‘Malabar Naval Exercise’. The next Quad summit and
Malabar Exercise will be hosted by Australia later this year. It is not
difficult to discern that FOIP will provide the security arm to Quad.
Another purpose of Kishida’s visit
was to somewhat align the G-20 agenda with that of G-7. G-20 has industrial and
emerging market countries, which is referred to as Global South. India is seemed
to be representing the voice of Global South in current global politics which
reflects the ‘active non-alignment’, a strategy initiated by Latin America. I
discussed this strategy in a column in early March titled ‘India & Ukraine
War; Active Non-Alignment.’This strategy is at variance with the western
approach to defending democracy and rule-based order in the world.
India-Japan ties are the key to the
stability in the region as both countries risk territorial belligerence from
Beijing. In recent periods they have developed strong bilateralism. They share special
partnership.Initially, India-Japan relations were elevated to 'Global
Partnership' in 2000, which graduated to ‘Strategic and Global Partnership' in
2006, and then to 'Special Strategic and Global Partnership' in 2014. The
structure of this partnership consists of annual summits which began in 2006;
the last summit was held in March 2022 in New Delhi;and alsohas 2- and-2
Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting around the annual summit.
India and Japan share strong
economic ties. Trade between the two was worth USD 20.55 billion in fiscal year
2021-2022. The Japanese investments in India touched USD 32 billion between
2000 and 2019. India’s import from Japan was 14 billion USD during the same
period. Japan has been supporting infrastructure development in India,
including a high-speed rail project. In fact, India-Japan partnership covers
various sectors – security, defence, trade and investment, science and
technology, education and health care, critical and emerging technologies. Discussions
are on to conduct joint projects in third countries in the region. FOIP may
provide that opportunity.
There is a good deal of warmth
between Indian Prime Minister and his Japanese counterpart. Shinzo Abe, the
former Prime Minister of long-standing, was considered a ‘friend of India’. The
current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Modi three times in 2022 and will meet
three more times this year. They will meet at G-7 Summit in May, G-20 in
September and Quad Summit in Sydney later this year. The bonhomie between top
leadership has been conducive to building seamlessly the bilateral partnership.
Kishida’s visit should have, as
usual, contributed to strengthening the special partnership between two
countries. However, the moot point ishow the two friendly countries converge
their responses to the war in Ukraine and consolidate their alliance vis-à-vis
China. ---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature
Alliance)
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