India-Japan Relations: Visit of Japanese Prime Minister to India

17 Oct, 2000    ·   421

Dr. Kapila highlights the significance of the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to India
Dr. Subhash Kapila
General Background

 

 

In 1947 when India emerged as an independent nation, Japan lay prostrate after the defeat inflicted by the United States using atomic weapons against Japan in 1945. Victory could not have come so easily for the United States , but for the atomic bombs. In 1949 China emerged as an aggressive communist giant at Japan 's doorstep. The Korean War involving the Chinese in a major way and Russian military hardware brought war to Japans neighborhood. 

 

 

In such a troubled security environment, till 1962, Japan looked to India to provide an alternative model of leadership in Asia for the newly independent nations of Asia . Japan hoped that India with her power attributes would be a counter poise to aggressive China . The Indian military debacle, brought about by India 's political leadership in the Sino-India border war in late 1962 was a big disappointment to Japan . India was there after viewed as a blubbering giant riddled with a strategically naïve political leadership, an inefficient bureaucracy and an economy which was state-controlled on the Chinese and Russian pattern. 

 

 

Meanwhile, Japan in the 1960s and 1970s was emerging, as an economic power house with American assistance and by 1980s was an economic superpower. While Japan provided economic aid to India , it was reluctant to invest heavily in India due to our permit-quota-licence raj. Political and economic exchanges were therefore minimal between the two countries.

 

 

Japan again took notice of India in 1998 when India went in for nuclear weapons. While Japanese abhorrence of nuclear weapons was understandable and therefore Japan 's harsh criticism of India , but it went home to Japan that India was on the rise. India 's economic liberalisation and its emergence as an IT superpower added weight to Japan 's perceptions of India as an emergent power.

 

 

Prime Minister Mori's Visit: The Significance

 

 

Prime Minister Mori's visit to India in August 2000 was a significant one for both India and Japan in more ways than one. The significance needs to be gauged from the following contextual factors:

 

 

·                     PM Mori's visit was the first by a Japanese PM in ten years.

 

 

·                     In the East Asian context security was under severe threat by China 's threats of use of force against Taiwan , missile tests and proliferation by China and by proxy through North Korea . 

 

 

·                     In the South East Asian context the two major nations, Indonesia and Malaysia are getting submerged by Islamic fundamentalism.

 

 

·                     In the South Asian context, Pakistan as a failing state and a rogue state exporting terrorism has become a nuclear weapons power with MRBM capabilities, by kind courtesy of China . 

 

 

·                     Japan 's security policies under domestic pressure were pressed for review.

 

 

·                     In South Asia , United States had embarked on a policy of a developing a strategic relationship with India . Japan as the major American ally in East Asia should find convergence. 

 

 

·                     India 's economic growth rate of about 6% and burgeoning IT industry was becoming attractive for Japanese investments.

 

 

·                     India 's nuclear weapons tests and Kargil victory indicated that India was coming out of its strategic coyness.

 

 

Combination of these factors prevailed heavily in spurring both nations towards dialogues for a "global partnership" as the Japanese PM indicated. It is significant that in the South Asia context, while Japanese PM may have visited Pakistan alongside, but Japan and made its priorities clear, namely that Japan did view that India had a global role to play and that Japan hoped that along with India , a "global partnership" could be forged. This must be viewed in the strategic context too as evidenced by growing military and strategic exchanges between the two nations lately. 

 

 

It is a pity that the Indian media gave limited press coverage to Japanese PM’s visit to India and totally missed the import of its as highlighted above. Japanese decision-mankind is noted for its graduated responses and does not provide sensationalism of the type that the Indian media preys on. 

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

India and Japan have one major commonality that both countries share. China weighs heavily in both countries respective strategic concern and calculations. China has in both cases strategically de-stabilised the neighborhood of India and Japan by nuclear weaponisation and missile build-ups in Pakistan and North Korea respectively. Strategic convergences between India and Japan should therefore be a logical corollary. PM Mori's visit to India is therefore significant and its strategic overtones cannot be over looked especially when both India and Japan are coming out of their strategic coyness. 

 

 

 

 

 

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