 "Manmohan Singh,Shinzo Abe")
The word ‘satisfaction’ figures over 40 times in the 10-page joint statement issued by India and Japan after a marathon meeting between the two prime ministers here on Wednesday.
That’s not the only feel-good factor. In their joint press briefing, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe expressed “gratitude” to the “senior-most, sometimes a mentor-like leader” like Manmohan Singh. The Indian PM returned the compliments and talked about the “exceptional hospitality” provided by the Japanese Emperor, who invited him for lunch on the last day of his visit.
Japanese as well as Indian officials didn’t forget to mention Abe had also invited Singh to a private dinner yesterday — something he had never done before for anybody. Tomahiko Taniguchi, councillor, Cabinet Secretariat (Indian equivalent of PMO) said the lunch invitation by the Emperor was also “unprecedented”, as Singh was not technically the head of state. He also said the Emperor would visit India in November or December. “Given his age, this will be a rare visit and shows the extraordinary friendship between the two nations,” Taniguchi said.
There is no doubt the personal equations between the two leaders and the friendship between the two nations have transcended the frostiness that gripped bilateral relations in 1998 after the Pokhran nuke tests.
But in many ways, the joint statement may have failed to match rhetoric with reality. Here’s why.
The hype over a possible civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the two countries remained just that – hype. Talks on the issue have been going on for the past three years (it had started after Singh’s last visit to Tokyo in 2010) and all that the joint statement could say was that the two sides agreed to “accelerate” negotiations for early conclusion of the deal. In his press briefing, Abe repeated the same words while Singh preferred to skip the issue. It only exposed the harsh reality that successive governments in Tokyo have found the going tough in garnering political support for it in the face of stiff opposition from the non-proliferation lobby in Japan. Just the road opposite the venue of the joint statement, there were noisy protests over Japan signing any nuclear export deal. Japanese officials said the cooperation could be reality in “a little less than two years”.
But even that might be difficult, as the two countries continued to differ on the contentious issue of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). That the CTBT issue continues to be an irritant is obvious from the statement, which said the “two PMs reaffirmed their shared commitment to the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Abe stressed the importance of bringing into force CTBT at an early date. Singh reiterated India’s commitment to its unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing.”
India, a nuclear weapons state, has refused to sign CTBT while maintaining it is committed to a unilateral and voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing.
Some big pluses, too
Japan has agreed to extend $700 million in official development assistance for the Mumbai metro project and the two sides have agreed to conduct a jot feasibility study on a high-speed railway project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Indian officials said the tremendous success of the Delhi Metro project was soon set to be overshadowed by even bigger and more ambitious infrastructure projects that would positively affect tens of millions of Indians — the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project and the Dedicated Freight Corridor project on the Mumbai-Delhi route. The Japanese government has also expressed interest in helping establish a Chennai-Bangalore Industrial corridor.
The good news also was that Japan assured it would work to prepare the ground for India to become a full member of the international control regimes for nuclear exports — the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement — in view of India’s sound non-proliferation record.
The two sides also agreed to cooperate in high technology, space and rare earth minerals and to intensify their political dialogue and progressively strengthen defence relations, including through naval exercises and collaboration in technology.
Faced with China’s maritime expansion, the two prime ministers said they were committed to freedom of navigation and unimpeded commerce, and agreed to promote cooperation on maritime issues.
A joint working group would be established to explore modalities for taking forward Japan’s offer of the US-2 amphibious aircraft. It is a significant breakthrough, as Japan had previously banned exports of arms.
India and Japan also agreed to strengthen cooperation in renewable energy, energy conservation, clean coal technologies and liquefied natural gas. Singh expressed interest in working with Japan in extraction of natural gas from undersea methane hydrate deposits.
Looking beyond their bilateral ties, the two countries also decided to join hands to work in multilateral for early reform of the UNSC, the powerful organ of the UN in which the two nations are eyeing permanent seats. “We will seek reforms in the United Nations Security Council, an open, rule-based and balanced regional architecture and deeper regional economic integration and connectivity,” he said.
While both sides sought to play down the China factor, there was considerable irritation over an editorial in the People’s Daily, the voice of the Chinese Communist Party, which had warned India to “be wary of petty Japanese burglars”. The editorial suggested Chinese leaders were annoyed that Singh should have taken off for Tokyo so soon after receiving Premier Li Keqiang.
Prime Minister Singh summed it up: “Our discussions were guided by the fundamental belief that at the time of global uncertainties, India and Japan were indispensable partners.”
Observers of Indo-Japan relations say it would have been in the fitness of things if the two sides showed a little more urgency — after all, the two-way trade between the two nations is still a low $18.5 billion, way behind the figure of $76 billion between India and China.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Speeding up talks for early conclusion of civil nuclear deal
- Japan to extend $700-mn loan for Mumbai metro project
- Jot feasibility study to be conducted on high-speed railway project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad
- Japan to prepare ground for India to become full member of the international control regimes for nuclear exports
- Cooperation in high technology, space and rare earth minerals; defence relations to be strengthened
- A joint working group to explore modalities for taking forward Japan’s offer of the US-2 amphibious aircraft
- Cooperation in renewable energy, energy conservation, clean coal technologies and LNG to be to strengthened
- India, Japan to join hands to work for early reform of UNSC
