It is unfortunate that the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India for the 12th Indo-Japan Summit has been woven around the issue of the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train. This multi-billion dollar super fast train project funded by soft loan from Japan has pushed aside other more important issues that the two countries will be discussing. Abe’s visit to India is important for several reasons. Both nations are trying to cope with China’s posturing in Asia. Both nations stand to benefit from bilateral ties and a better appreciation of each other’s strengths. In 2015 Abe had termed Japan and India as natural partners. Since Modi’s first visit to Japan after he came to power in May 2014, the ties between the two countries has further strengthened. To attribute the closeness between Japan and India only for countering Chinese attempts at gaining Asian superpower status is a misnomer.
The world is passing through a churning of sorts with North Korea testing its hydrogen bomb to demonstrate to America that it would not cow down before that superpower. For a long time the world looked up to America as the avant-garde of global security. But now there is uncertainty all around and countries are trying to find alliance partners with similar concerns.
Prime Minister Modi and Abe share some similarities in the problems they encounter within their respective countries. Most often what drive the foreign policy of any country are its domestic challenges. Both Japan and India have not developed their maritime strengths despite having huge coastlines. China’s ‘string of pearls’ policy and its push to become the game changer along the Indian Ocean has now compelled both Japan and India to redesign their maritime objectives. Although China has beaten India to the game, the latter is now trying to counter China by aligning with other Asian countries that are threatened by China’s overreach. Japan and India are working on greater military cooperation and infrastructural development. It is only natural for China to lose sleep over Abe’s visit.
