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The arc to Tokyo: on India-Japan ties :
Context
- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to India, part of annual summits between the two countries, has set strategic ties on a fast track.
What are the latest developments?
- The Ahmedabad – Mumbai bullet train project, was launched by Mr. Abe and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- India’s decision to partner with Japan for the 508-km, ₹1.1 lakh-crore project is as much about politics as it is about infrastructure.
- Japan has been keen to export its high-speed train technology along with rolling stock, and India’s move to confirm the Japanese contracts while China wins’ projects along its Belt and Road railway line is significant.
- India has also extended to Japan an offer denied to any other country, which is to assist in infrastructure development in the Northeast.
The talk about North Korea as a joint challenge
- Mr. Abe considers North Korea as a joint challenge for both India and Japan.
- Mr Abe also pointed to China for supporting North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes.
- The clause calling for zero tolerance on terrorism referenced China’s veto on the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief being put on the list of UN-designated terrorists.
- Both the title of the joint statement, “Toward a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific”, and substantive paragraphs on cooperation in the region indicate a much closer alignment between India and Japan in countering China’s influence in the South China Sea.
- The coming into force of the India-Japan nuclear deal and more military and maritime exercises will reinforce such efforts.
India – Japan trade relations
- While Japan is India’s largest donor and the third largest provider of FDI, bilateral trade has steadily declined since 2013, and is down to $13.61 billion in 2016-17 from $14.51 billion the year before.
- The contrast with India-China trade, at $71 billion a year, and Japan-China trade, at $279 billion, is stark.
- Therefore, the decision to finalize four new locations for special Japanese industrial townships may be only one way of addressing the difficulties businessmen face in India.
