The 14thannual India-Japan summit resumed after a gap of three and half years with the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to India on March 19th. India-Japan summit, scheduled to be held in Guwahati in 2019 could not take place due to anti-CAA protests and pandemic surge in 2020 and 2021 cast a shadow on in person meetings. Besides traveling to Glasgow for the COP 26 after assuming charge, Kishida made his first overseas visit to India as head of the government. During his previous stint as the foreign minister, Kishida last visited India in 2015.
The two-day
short visit, marks 70 years of diplomatic relations between India and Japan
which comes at a time of a major geopolitical ferment. Set in the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis,
unlike other Quad partners, India adopted a neutral position and eloquently defended
its abstention from UN voting on the same. Strategists thus alluded that one of
the main aspects of Kishida’s visit would be Russian invasion and rightly so,
the Japanese chief cabinet secretary also indicated the same. Ukraine crisis is
an important issue where both countries failed to concur. While Japan backed
the American position of extreme sanction regime against Russia, India strongly
maintained that dialogue is the only way forward and dispatched three tranches
of humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Two summit
meetings with Quad partners- Japan and Australia- back to back with President
Biden’s remarks on India’s “shaky” response to Russian invasion demonstrates
that the West strongly wants India to approve their punitive sanctions against
Kremlin. Doing a tight diplomatic balancing, India not only repulsed all these
attempts but has successfully managed to convince Japan and Australia of its
position.
The Joint
Statement at the annual summit reads, “the prime ministers have expressed
their serious concerns over the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in
Ukraine and assessed its broader implications, particularly to Indo-Pacific
region. They emphasised that the contemporary global order is based on UN
charter, international law and respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the states…. They reiterated their call for an immediate cessation
of violence and noted that there was no other choice but the path of dialogue
and diplomacy for resolution of the conflict”.
Ironically,
while the US is keen on eliciting India’s response to European security
framework through its ally Japan, Prime Minister Modi has rightly shifted the
focus of the summit to robust economic cooperation. Enunciating that both
countries must work towards averting a Ukraine kind of situation in the
Indo-Pacific, leaders discussed common threat in the region.
Addressing
the shared concerns, both countries underscored the need for “stable and
prosperous world, based on a rules-based order …. Emphasised the need for all
countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with
international law without resorting to threat or use of force or attempt to
unilaterally change status quo”.
Reflecting
on the burgeoning Chinese bellicosity in the region, they emphasised- “importance
of non-militarisation and self-restraint”. This statement further
reinforces the observation of the US Indo-Pacific commander, Admiral John C Aquilino
who expressed concerns over China’s muscle flexing. He observed, “China has
fully militarised at least three of several islands its built in the disputed
South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems,
laser and jamming equipment, and fighter jets in an increasingly aggressive
move that threatens all nations operating nearby”.
At a time
when Biden’s Russian obsession has veered the world away from China’s military
aggression in the Indo-Pacific, reaffirming commitment to free and open
Indo-Pacific, India has rightly highlighted the security threats in the region
and called for “the full and effective implementation of the Declaration on
the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the early conclusion of a
substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea in accordance
with international law, especially UNCLOS”.
PM Kishida
welcomed PM Modi’s Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative (IPOI) and proposed greater
cooperation between IPOI and Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). To effectively
uphold the vision of FOIP such as openness, rule of law, freedom, transparency
and inclusiveness, both leaders reiterated their strong support for ASEAN’s
unity and centrality and endorsed “ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP)”.
Pandemic,
besides inflicting a huge blow to economies, brought to fore the strategic
weaponization of trade and crippling of global supply chain. To insulate
economies and liberate them from coercion, as part of FOIP, India and Japan have
resolved to power their economies with robust bilateral flow of trade and investments.
India received first yen loan aid in 1958 and has been one of the major
beneficiaries of Japan’s ODA (Official Development Assistance). Japan is fifth
largest source of FDI.
In 2000
Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro
Mori established “Global Partnership between India and Japan”. In 2005,
both countries have started annual summit meets and in 2006, Prime Ministers
Manmohan Singh and Junichiro Kozumi elevated the relationship to “Global and
Strategic Partnership”.
In 2014, on
the eve of Prime Minister Modi’s first visit to Japan for a summit meeting with
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, they upgraded these ties to “Special Strategic
and Global Partnership”. Subsequently, Abe announced 3.5 trillion Yen
investment in India over a period of five years.
Taking note
of the steps taken by government of India to improve ease of doing business and
business environment, Kishida announced an investment of 5 trillion Yen of
public and private investment in India over a period of five years. To promote
industrial cooperation in MSME and manufacturing, India and Japan have
established India-Japan Industrial Competitive Partnership (IJICP) in November
2021.
To reduce dependence
on China and build resilient and reliable supply chain, India, Japan and
Australia initiated Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI) in April 2021. Economic cooperation is a force multiplier and
to infuse new momentum in bilateral ties, India and Japan are planning to review
CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) for implementation. Making
amendments in article 7 &13 of the CEPA, countries are contemplating the
inclusion of surimi fish of India in the IJIICP roadmap. While robust
investments have been the high point of India-Japan partnership, the bilateral
trade of $16.95 is below the potential. In a welcome move, India approved the
imports of Apples from Japan and Japan relaxed procedures to export Indian
mangoes.
Besides
shared interests, India and Japan have a common adversary, strengthening
defence cooperation, countries welcomed operationalisation of the Agreement
Concerning Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between Indian Armed
Forces and Japan’s self defense forces through bilateral and multilateral
exercises like “Dharma Guardian” and “Malabar” respectively. But Japan still
hobbled by a pacifist constitution isn’t forthcoming on defence cooperation as
yet and both countries are still identifying potential areas of cooperation and
collaboration in defense manufacturing and technology sectors.
True to
quintessential global partnership, both countries more or less share common
perspectives on countering terrorism. The Joint Statement condemned the
state-sponsor terrorism of Pakistan in strongest terms and unequivocally
harboured similar positions with regards to denuclearisation of Korean
peninsula, realising peace and stability in Afghanistan, implementation of
five-point consensus by Myanmar.
India and
Japan part of the G 4, seeking permanent membership in an expanded UNSC sought
for early reforms of the UNSC to reflect the contemporary realities of the 21st
century and significantly affirmed to “accelerate its process, including
through the commencement of text-based negotiations in the Inter-Governmental
Negotiations (IGN) with an overall objective to achieve concrete outcomes in a
fixed time frame”.
Synergizing
with India’s Act East Policy (AEF) and Japan’s vision for FOIP, countries have
established Act East Forum in 2017 for promoting and developing India’s North
East Region (NER) by way of improving connectivity within the region and
between the region and the South East Asia. For sustainable development of the
NER, the focus of AEF has been on improving agriculture through better
irrigation, developing agro-based industries, food processing, improving health
facilities, skill development and employment under Skill India, disaster
resilience, development of tourism and cultural exchange, connectivity, new
renewable energy, sustainable use of forest resources and cooperation in
development of Urban areas.
As part of
this grand initiative, both the leaders have launched “India-Japan
Initiative for Sustainable Development of the North Eastern Region of India”
which includes the “initiative for strengthening Bamboo Value Chain in the
North East”. Bamboo is an inalienable part of the
culture heritage of both countries and by marrying traditional skills with
innovative design and branding, countries aim to promote the livelihoods of
people in NER through Bamboo Value chain initiative.
Besides the
progress made on four pillars of cooperation of the Quad-connectivity, Covid
vaccines, emerging technologies and climate, India and Japan have renewed
partnership towards sustainable development in the post Covid world. Countries
have launched India-Japan Clean Energy Partnership in areas such as
electric vehicles (EV), storage systems including batteries, electric vehicle
charging infrastructure, solar energy, clean including green hydrogen/ ammonia,
wind energy, exchange of view on energy transition plans, energy efficiency,
carbon dioxide Capturing, Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) and Carbon recycling.
To deliver
on ambitious climate change and sustainable development goals, Japan and India
have committed to the net carbon zero by 2070 and 2050 respectively.
Accordingly, leaders are seeking to cement the cooperation on new and renewable
energy. Emulating Japan’s Asia’s Energy Transition Initiative (AETI),
countries are keen on tapping into low-carbon sunrise sectors, new technologies
to reduce carbon emissions with an underlying vision of being secure, efficient,
resilient and sustainable. Cooperation under this partnership will build on the
work already carried under foundation of India-Japan Energy Dialogue in
2007.
Countries
have signed Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) in the field of Cyber security and
MoU on seven JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) loans for
connectivity, water supply and sewerage, health care and conservation projects
in North East, decentralised domestic waste water management, sustainable urban
development.
Pursuing national
interest has been foundational pillar of Modi’s doctrine. Refusing to be drawn
into the quagmires of the geopolitical ferment, wary of allying with any group,
India is strategically seeking issue-based coalitions. Of late, India is
intently solemnising bilateral trade, energy and investment agreements over
multilateral pacts. Resisting coercion, threats and intimidation, India has by
far firmly adopted a neutral stance on the Ukraine issue.
Though
Kishida’s quick visit to India has been an inadvertent persuasive effort to
convince India to support sanctions against Russia, through deft diplomacy,
India deepened multisectoral cooperation with Japan. Imploring on the need to
focus on the Indo-Pacific region, which is of immediate consequence to both countries,
India reinfused trust and fresh energy into the partnership pivoted on shared
interests and common threats.
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