Round The World
New Delhi, 29 January 2014
Shinzo Abe’s Visit
SYMBOLISING
STRONGER TIES
By Prof Arvind Kumar
(Dept of Geopolitics &
Intl Relations, Manipal Univ)
The visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the chief
guest for the Republic Day celebration symbolizes a number of things, including
strengthening bilateral ties in every sphere with India. At the same time it has also
raised a debate and discussion among the members of the strategic and academic
community about the larger fundamental goals of both India
and Japan.
In fact, there is a dominant debate on the question relating to the rationale
for Japan for becoming keen
in forging closer and friendly ties with India.
It must be emphasized here that for the past one decade both
Tokyo and New
Delhi have been making a modest attempt in
strengthening cooperation. The recognition of India
by a number of countries, including Japan
and its potential future especially in the context of its economic growth and
stability has brought it on the radar screen of key policy makers in Tokyo in particular.
There seems to be a very consistent and serious effort made by both India and Japan in understanding each other
better. It is being envisaged that the bilateral relations is bound to see a
transformation in each others’ approaches and guarantee peace, stability and
prosperity in Asia.
The relatively new bonhomie in India-Japan relations will
also help in building a new and distinct architecture for closer regional
cooperation in Asia. However, there seems to
be many challenges to strategic convergences on a number of pertinent important
areas, including environment, energy, disarmament, non-proliferation and the
issues impacting the Indo-Pacific region.
Further, there are clear signs to prove that both the
nations have a willingness to find their space for collaboration and establish
a framework where the existing bilateral divergences can be bridged. The
dynamic growth of the bilateral understanding between India and Japan is being reflected in the
number of high-level exchanges that have been taking place and continuing at
regular intervals.
The very fact that Shinzo Abe accepted new Delhi’s invitation
to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebration shows a seriousness on the
part of Japan to evolve a working and constructive relationships on the areas
spanning nuclear, high technology and strategic. It was Abe’s second visit to India, which
saw remarkable changes since his last visit for his Prime Ministerial summit at
the bilateral level in 2007.
Undoubtedly, the annual summits between the Prime Ministers
of both the countries, taking place since 2006 have truly contributed in
dispelling their misunderstandings. This is amply obvious from the progress made
since the signing of the Joint Statement in 2006 on “Towards India-Japan
Strategic and Global Partnership”. An upward trajectory in the relationship is
there for all to see. The roadmap for new dimensions to the strategic and
global partnership between India
and Japan
as a part of Joint Statement was signed in 2007 during his first visit. An
understanding was also reached on the “Enhancement of Cooperation on
Environmental Protection and Energy Security”. However, the views and
modalities of the functioning of such understanding have still not reconciled
with the growing perceptions and misperceptions.
On civil nuclear cooperation front, it is unfortunate that Japan still has not understood the fact that
despite India
being a non-signatory to the nuclear non proliferation treaty (NPT), it has
followed all the provisions of NPT guidelines more than many signatories to the
NPT. Japan
needs to understand this and pursue negotiations on the probable India-Japan
civil nuclear pact. It needs to gain momentum and culminate into strong cooperation
in the foreseeable future. There should be a consistency between rhetoric and
action.
On advanced technologies area, there seems to be not even a
beginning but there is a debate going on. Japan has not shown any sign of
helping share the fundamental research. Sadly, the high-technology cooperation
at the bilateral level remains a myth. But, India aspires to enhance and
intensify its cooperation.
Prime Minister Abe stressed on the fact that India and Japan had agreed to have a dialogue
between the newly-established National Security Council of Japan and its Indian
counterpart and spoke of the possibility of stepping up cooperation in maritime
security. Japan’s
participation in the Malabar exercise along with the United
States will be appreciated by India in addressing to the needs of
maritime security. India and
Japan
have been holding joint naval exercises since 2012.
Both Abe and Manmohan Singh expressed their commitment to
boost strategic and political ties. The emerging Indo-Japan friendship has also
sent a signal to China that
both the nations can build a counterbalance to Beijing. The commitment on both sides to have
closer strategic ties comes as Japan
and China dispute ownership
of islands in the East China Sea. There are
also growing concerns that China
wants to control vital shipping lanes. India
and Japan also shared
similar concerns on China’s
declaration of ADIZ.
India has been the largest recipient of
Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA). The Japanese Prime Minister
announced a $2 billion loan for expansion of the Delhi Metro, and promised more
investment in other infrastructure projects, a critical need for India. It was
seen again as an attempt to bring India
closer to Tokyo
and help build consensus on regional security architecture.
Both India
and Japan
need to promote their interest together so that they can assume
responsibilities in leading the affairs of the much-debated Indo-Pacific
region. The identification of common interest in dealing with the emerging
geopolitical challenges would be given a priority. The volume of trade between India and Japan needs to be augmented, as it
is certainly below the satisfactory mark. In the current context, India-Japan
bilateral trade is less than $ 20 billion. The export-import ratio also
requires to be intensified from both sides.
If Japan
is really interested in evolving a meaningful relation with India then it needs
to be proactive in its strategy. Japan
shall start sharing its fundamental research with India,
which ultimately would boost India’s
research and development in the defence sector. Japan
shall also evolve a strategy towards India,
which would be independent and not get influenced by the United States.
Abe’s visit to New Delhi
follows a series of other high-level visits. The Japanese Emperor and Empress
visited India
last December and the Japanese Defence Minister earlier this January. Such
visits have indeed signaled to the rest of the world the growing willingness
from both sides on creating a positive atmosphere for a modest strategic
partnership.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News and Feature Alliance)
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