Round The World
New Delhi, 25 March
2022
Japanese
PM In Delhi
CREATING
SUPPLY CHAINS!
By Dr D.K
Giri
(Prof. of
International Politics, JIMMC)
Japanese Prime
Minister Fumio Kishida was in Delhi to attend the 14th India-Japan
summit. Notably, this washis first visit abroad after taking over as head of
the Government. Since that first country happened to be India, observers are
alluding to the significance Japan attaches to its bilateralism with New Delhi.
Be that as it may, will the summit, taking place after three years,create new
supply chains for the world economy? This is the call of the times as
alternatives to the existing supply chains held by China are direly sought by
world economies.
Recall that India-Japan
bilateral relations grew by leaps and bounds since 2006 when the two signed the
‘strategic and global partnership’. The bilateral summits are occasions for
boosting trade and investment, and this Summit last week (19th- 20th
March) took place after three years. The
2019 Summit in whichformer Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was to attend got cancelled
due to the anti-CAA agitation in Assam. And subsequent summits in 2020-21 were
cancelled because of the pandemic.
In 2014, under the Investment
Promotion Partnership, Japan made an investment of 3.5 trillion JPY (28 billion
USD). Had the summits taken place in the last three years, there could have
been more investments. Fumio Kishida has made a commitment of 5 trillionJPY (42
billion USD) to be invested in India. This investment is aimed at deepening the
Indo-Japanese collaboration in the face of Chinese dominance in the region and
shall cover a wide range of activities involving Japanese finance and skilled
Indian labour, and is expected to build supply chains.
In this visit, six major
agreements were signed between India and Japan, covering various sectors --mainly
digital security and green technologies. The agreements are: Memorandum of
cooperation in the field of cybersecurity, the activities envisaged are
information sharing, capacity building and cybercity cooperation; loans from
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), under which there will be seven loans
from JICA to the tune of Rs 20,400 crore for projects in connectivity, water supply
and sewage, horticulture, healthcare and biodiversity conservation; amendment
to the India-Japan comprehensive economic partnership, which relates to
certification of origin of fish surimi.
The fourth agreement
is memorandum of cooperation on decentralising domestic waste water management,
wherein Japan will transfer the ‘Johkasou’ technology
for wastewater treatment. This technology is used in places where sewage
disposal is not developed. The fifth is India-Japan industrial competitiveness
partnership roadmap for two industrial partnerships signed in November 2021 is
to be drawn. This is a working roadmap to the
Memorandum of Cooperation on India-Japan Industrial Competitiveness Partnership
that was signed in November 2021.Working groups have been formed in
various sectors to facilitate the companies.Setting up of supply chains is also
within the scope of this agreement.
The sixth agreement
is related to urban development that builds on the MoU signed in 2007. The
latest projects include affordable housing, smart cities development, urban
flood management and waste water management etc. In addition to these agreements,
the other announcements made were, clean energy partnerships, the $ 42-billion
investment as mentioned before, and sustainable development initiatives for the
North-Eastern Region.
All the above sound
quite encouraging as the third and the fourth biggest economies in Asia begin
to deepen their collaboration. Indeed, Japanese capital and India’s labour
force as well as market will form a formidable combination for economic
activities and both countries and in the 3rd country. But the matter
of concern is the divergence of positions and perceptions on security and
strategic issues.
Under Shinzo Abe, Japan
amended its Constitution to engage militarily in international relations and security
issues.Tokyo also has been taking clear positions on strategic and security
matters, take for example, Japan’s active involvement in QUAD. It has also
taken a clear and categorical position on Russian invasion of Ukraine, whereas
New Delhi has been disappointingly evasive on it. New Delhi has been abstaining
from voting in condemning Russia or naming it as aggressor.
From available reports,
Japan is nudging India to be more vocal on the war launched by Russia. While
New Delhi and Tokyo are on the same page, vis-à-vis China, on Ukraine they are
divergent. Kishida told a joint news conference on
Saturday that “Russia’s invasion … shakes the very foundations of the
international order and must be dealt with firmly”.Whereas Prime Minister Modi
talked about dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the Ukrainian tangle.
The joint statement issued
after the Summit, did not name Russia. It “emphasised
the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in
accordance with international law without resorting to threat or use of force
or any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo”.
In the past, India
was known for its commitment to international norms and practice of democracy
within the country. Although India’s economy was not growing so rapidly
commensurate with its potential, it was known for upholding a robust democratic
politics inside and for a rule-based order outside in international politics.
Currently, the reverse of that trend is being noticed, New Delhi seems to do
smart business with other countries, including Russia. India continues to buy
oil and weapons from Russia which is at war with its neighbour.
Interestingly Japan,
which was part of the Axis Powers in the Second World War, built its economy
systematically as it was political shackled by post-war restrictions. It is now
opening up to the world more assertively in politics and security issues. New Delhi
on the other hand emerged as an independent political power in the Third World
in 1947, when it got de-colonised. Since 90s, with the opening up of the economy,
India seems to be forging ahead in building its economic growth, overseas trade,
self-dependence, self-preservation and so on. But, politically, especially, on
China and Russia, New Delhi has been fumbling.
It may be an order,
after Kishida’s visit during which Modi would have talked on a range of issues,
that Modi takes a leaf out of Japanese book and reaffirm its international
political identity by speaking up on major international developments. New
Delhi’s tacit support to Russia in Ukraine war and espousal of democracy and
diplomacy do not go hand in hand. New Delhi must have closest collaboration
with Japan as they share security concerns relating to Beijing. This
collaboration should extend to Afghanistan, Myanmar and other South-Asian and
South-East Asian countries. The ball is certainly in New Delhi’s court.---INFA
(Copyright, India News
& Feature Alliance)
|