Modi�s Japan Visit

While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit in December 2015 had reaffirmed the desire to transform the Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership to a deep, broad-based and action-oriented partnership, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day visit to Japan from 10 to 12 November 2016 was an opportunity for the two countries to review the process in the relationship and lay out a future plan of action to deepen the engagement. It was in this context that both Prime Ministers discussed wide ranging issues including economics, security, climate change, infrastructure, manufacture and other matters and signed some important agreements.

Of course, the signing of the nuclear agreement is one of the most important developments during Prime Minister Modi’s visit in view of the fact that Japan has, in the past, been very critical of India’s nuclear programme and had imposed economic sanctions following the1998 Pokhran tests. Thus, the agreement indicates that Japan has now come to recognise India as a responsible nuclear power and acknowledges this country’s compulsions for developing the nuclear arsenal. This can further be gauged from the fact that India has become the first country with which Japan has agreed to have nuclear cooperation without the former being the signatory of the NPT. Apart from boosting strategic ties between New Delhi and Tokyo, the agreement would be viewed as the facilitator for the sale of US nuclear reactors to India in the sense that two Japanese owned/controlled companies, GE-Hitachi and Westinghouse, which are major nuclear manufacturers in the US, can speed up the process of investment in the civil-nuclear field in India as Japan will now not oppose the removal of the tracking clause from the India-US nuclear agreement. In addition, India can be in a position to get access to advanced nuclear technology at cheap rates prices because the agreement will reduce the dependability on France and Russia. For Japan, this agreement would help revive its nuclear industry, which has been struggling ever since the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Economic and trade relations form another segment of bilateral ties. Mr. Modi views Japan as an important player in realising India’s desire to achieve double-digit growth rate. The Indian Government feels that its initiative of “Make in India” cannot succeed unless there is a degree of synergy between India’s “Act East policy” and Japan’s “Partnership for Quality Infrastructure.” Without world-class infrastructure, the Indian market cannot be suitably attractive to foreign investors. Secondly, China has over the past few years made huge investments in other South Asian countries. For instance, President Xi laid out bold plans to develop the $46 billion China-Pakistan economic corridor running across the Karakoram Mountains to the Arabian Sea. Thus, Japan’s increasing engagement in development projects in India would help Delhi to balance its position vis-a-vis Beijing in this region. It is in this context that the emphasis of the two leaders on the completion of the Mumbai-Ahmadabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) Project and the establishment of the Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM), which will provide training to 30,000 persons over next 10 years, assumes huge significance for India.

Defence ties have emerged as a major pillar of the bilateral engagement. Modi and Abe reiterated their commitment to deepen cooperation in this area, which in turn would help them to promote peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. While India and Japan have already formed a trilateral concert along with the US and Tokyo has started participating in the India-US Malabar Joint Navel exercise, Japan has agreed to provide India its state of the art defence platforms such as US-2 amphibian aircraft. At the same time, it has also agreed to work with New Delhi in co-development and co-production of defence equipments through the Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation. This in turn would not only facilitate India’s efforts towards becoming self-dependent in the defence manufacturing sector, but defence ties would also enable the two countries to develop the balance of power in their favour in the Asia-Pacific.  

More significant was the joint statement’s reference to the South China Sea. The two prime ministers reiterated their commitment to respecting freedom of navigation, overflight and unimpeded lawful commerce, based on principles of international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and called upon all states to avoid unilateral actions that could lead to tensions in the region. India and Japan’s affirmation of shared interests in the disputed South China Sea has focused on countering China’s continued claim that the South China Sea is its exclusive domain, especially since, despite the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague rejecting Beijing’s claims, China continues to assert its position there. In a significant move, the leaders also agreed to work together in Africa, with the objective of synchronizing their efforts and exploring specific joint projects, including in the areas of training and capacity building, health, infrastructure, and connectivity. While this collaboration between India and Japan would bring them economic benefits, it would also enable them to arrest China’s increasing clout in the African continent.

South Asia also received significant attention during the two leaders’ discussion. They expressed concern over growing terrorist activity around the world and pledged “zero tolerance.” Abe backed India’s efforts to bring terrorists to justice, including the perpetrators of the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai. In turn, the statement clearly indicated that Japan shares India’s concerns regarding Pakistan’s role in abetting cross-border terrorism from its territory against India. The two leaders’ agreement to develop bilateral and trilateral cooperation, inter alia, to develop infrastructure and connectivity for Chabahar and promote peace and prosperity in South Asia and the neighboring region, including Iran and Afghanistan, reflects their countries’ commitment to developing a strong balance of power against the China-Pakistan nexus.

Recognizing India as the largest democracy and a fast-growing major economy in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan has firmly supported India’s membership in APEC. India’s induction into this group would further enable the two countries to promote their “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.”

Given that there is a growing convergence of interests between the two countries in security, economics, space, science and technology, and other fields, the bilateral relationship is set to achieve new heights in the coming years.