Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe’s three-day visit to India from Tuesday (August 21) follows Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Japan in December last year. Manmohan
Singh's visit was preceded by prime minister Jericho Koizumi's visit to India in
April-May 2005. Manmohan's visit to Japan culminated in the signing of the
"Joint Statement Toward Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership".
In his book, A Beautiful
Country, Abe proposes an Asian order that groups together Australia, India,
Japan and the United States. As Japan reformulates its foreign policy in the
quest to assume a greater leadership role in Asia, it finds it shares an
unprecedented convergence in interests, values and strategies with a rising
India that is eager to "look east" and integrate itself into Asia and Asian
institutions.
This has
necessitated a strong focus on India, evident from its prominent featuring in
Japan's recent diplomatic overtures and initiatives in Asia. It is clear that
Japan and India are likely to become closely tied partners in coming years based
on common values and strategic interests and as a useful complement to Japan's
traditional strategic reliance on relations with the US.
Domestic developments within
India have followed a similar path of attempting to shed old shibboleths.
Emboldened by its rapid and sustained economic-growth story, and a new strategic
partnership with the most powerful country in the world, the United States,
India has shed its foreign-policy shackles of non-alignment and is seeking to
develop partnerships with the major powers of the world.
Japan then becomes a suitable
partner for several reasons. First, an economic partnership and enhanced trade
and investment ties with the second-largest economy has to be an essential
component of India's economic strategy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has
repeatedly emphasized that economic ties must be the bedrock of India's
relationship with all the major powers in the world, including Japan.
Second, India wants to
integrate itself with the rest of Asia, and as it "looks east", it has realized
that it needs partners within Asia that will take up its cause. Japan has been
more than happy to play that role. Without Japan's initiative and the
manifestations of the China-Japan rivalry, it is possible that India would not
have been invited to participate in the East Asian Summit. For India, therefore,
its relations with Japan are crucial in its quest for greater economic
integration with the Asia-Pacific region.
The India-Japan partnership in
Asia and the world also could provide comfort to a United States that is feeling
marginalized by virtue of being denied membership in the East Asian Summit,
among other Asia-led initiatives. Strategic partnerships with both countries, in
addition to a strong partnership between them, will allow the US to maintain an
active strategic presence in Asia, even if it is formally excluded from certain
institutions and initiatives.
That said, India, or even
Japan, will not serve as the proxy of the US. However, a partnership between the
democratic states in Asia will ensure that it remains open and free, politically
and economically, that will in turn bring the benefit of a protected commons
that includes safety of sea lanes, and a secure and reliable access to energy
sources. Moreover, it will allow Asian countries to work together against the
threats of terrorism, religious extremism, and the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction.
