Manmohan’s Japan visit fruitful
By Nantoo Banerjee
The 17th century Dutch philosopher, Hugo Grotius, whose pioneering work on laws of war and peace laid the foundation of the modern international law, likened diplomacy to a long-distance marathon run and war to a 100-yard dash. Patience is key to good diplomacy which Grotius characterized with the creation of a win-win situation for parties involved. Belligerence is the product of impatience, jealousy, rivalry and quest for supremacy. War starts when diplomacy fails. India has been extremely patient with China despite the frequent military and diplomatic provocations from its most powerful neighbour across the Himalayas — military incursions and the issue of stapled visas, for instance. Yet, the war of words between the two big Asian neighbours never seems to stop.
Two generations passed since India meddled in what it then felt an unjust Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 and provided Tibetan refugees shelter as per the UN charter (UNHCR). China and India fought a brief war in 1962 over the territorial control of a portion of Southern Tibet and Aksai Chin, which are part of India as per the geographical demarcation under McMahon Line. Although China won the war, its troops withdrew from north of McMahon Line, effectively ceding South Tibet back to India. The relationship between the two turned from bad to worse with China’s emergence as a global economic and military power. Now, China claims the whole of an Indian state, Arunachal Pradesh, and parts of Sikkim and Jammu & Kashmir among others as its territory.
No Indian effort over the last 50 years — from its diplomatic support to China in several international forum on regional conflicts and western sanctions to making China its No. 1 global trading partner, taking a US$ 40-billion trade deficit hit in 2012 alone – managed to soften China’s belligerent stance on India. China has been constantly squeezing India militarily and economically. China’s increasing military and economic aids to countries sharing borders with India such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Maldives and Sri Lanka are raising diplomatic tension in the region. Indian companies engaged in joint venture offshore hydrocarbon projects in Vietnam and Myanmar had to buckle under Chinese threats.
The backdrop led India get cozier – strategically and economically – with Japan, a trusted old Asian friend and economic super-power wielding strong strategic influence over most Pacific region countries, including the US, Australia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. The 5,900-km-long distance between New Delhi and Tokyo never stood in the way of psychological nearness of the two nations. India’s historical ties with Japan began since Buddhism went offshore several centuries ago. In more modern times, Japan allowed its soil to be used by Indian freedom fighters, led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, against the British rule. Rabindra Nath Tagore was most impressed by the Japanese art, culture and tradition.
No country can live in isolation. If India, despite all its sincere efforts, is yet to befriend China, there is no reason why it shouldn’t get closer to Japan, the world’s third largest economic power, which itself has become a target of China’s extra-territorial claim over the uninhabited Senkaku islands in the East China Sea ever since geological surveys discovered large under-sea oil and gas deposits there. The islands have been under the Japanese control since 1895, barring a brief intervening period after the World War II. In fact, the growing Indo-Japan economic and strategic alliance is, to a large extent, a fall-out of China’s extra-territorial claims and aggressive stance over both India and Japan raising security concerns in both the countries and the region.
The good thing about the growing Indo-Japan economic and strategic relations is that it has been progressing steadily over the last 15 years, especially after Atal Behari Vajpayee became India’s prime minister for the third time in 1999. The alliance grew stronger under both the UPA I and II governments, led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, coinciding with China’s ascendancy as the world’s fastest growing economic and military power. China overtook Japan as the second largest economy after the US in 2011. Between the NDA and UPA governments, Indian economy too made a steady progress averaging a seven per cent GDP growth during this period. For both Japan and India, a more effective economic and strategic alliance makes a strong sense to pursue their national objectives to reclaim their economic glory and become a strong united global voice with other like-minded democracies in the region.
Prime Minister Singh’s latest visit to Japan and his free and frank dialogue with Prime Minister Abe have further strengthened the belief that the two countries need to have a stronger economic and strategic union for peace, progress, security and territorial integrity in the region. Japan has agreed to invest heavily – well over $ 4 billion — in India’s infrastructure, from railroads to industrial corridors and joint sea-bed methane gas exploration. Japanese private investments are expected to be even much larger.
Simultaneously, Japan displayed willingness for early conclusion of India’s effort for civil nuclear cooperation. The two sides agreed to institutionalize joint naval exercises by increasing their frequency even as Japan offered its highly advanced sea plane Shinmaywa or US-2, the first instance of Tokyo’s willingness to offer a dual technology having military and civilian applications. The highly sophisticated long-range amphibian craft can land and take off even in choppy waters. Significantly, India accepted a Japanese request to jointly develop India’s rare earths, a strategic raw material which China refused to supply to Japan.
Soft-spoken Manmohan Singh made a hard-hitting banquet speech saying “India and Japan are natural and indispensable partners for advancing prosperity in our two countries and for a peaceful, stable, cooperative and prosperous future for the Asia- Pacific and Indian Ocean regions” clearly exemplifying the growing bond between the two nations. Shinzo Abe’s response was equally forthright. He said maritime democracies were obligated to safeguard oceans and that “India from the west, Japan from the east, the confluence of the two most deep-rooted democracies is already one important part of international common good for the 21st century. I am of a belief that it is important that Japan and India should ensure that Asia remains in peace and prosperity.”
It isn’t easy to predict how fulminating China will respond to the current Indo-Japan strategic convergence in the face of its growing muscle-flexing to arm-twist Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam, India and other Asian nations into making territorial concessions. (IPA)