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2 SPEAKING
FREELY India and Japan: Congruence, at
last By Anirudh Suri
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
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.
Better
relations with India will serve Japan well in the
long term as it seeks to reassert its leadership
in Asia, while a strategic partnership with Japan
will increase the chances of India's integration
into the Asian political equation. The prospects
for the India-Japan relationship are boosted by
the fact that Japan's key ally, the United States,
has also embarked on a strategic partnership with
India.
Moving beyond simply assertions and
grandiose plans of a strategic partnership, as has
recently become commonplace, a systematic study of
convergences in the political, economic and
strategic arenas demonstrates that very clear
strategic imperatives exist for India and Japan to
embark on a durable and meaningful partnership.
Close ties between India and Japan will have
far-reaching implications for the region and are
likely to become a key driving force in shaping a
new international order in Asia based on
democratic values and market principles.
Bound by a pacifism that impacted all
aspects of its foreign and security policy, a
debate has recently raged within Japan on the
future of pacifism in Japanese foreign policy.
Former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi sought to
bring Japan out of the shadows of its post-World
War II history and worked hard with US President
George W Bush to enable Japan to assume a more
prominent role in global affairs. Similarly,
Koizumi's successor, Shinzo Abe, a more
conservative leader, has pledged to amend Article
9 of Japan's postwar constitution, a move that
would allow the military to venture abroad and for
Japan to emerge as a "normal" country again.
Japan's new political landscape cannot be
understood without recognizing the impact that the
rise of China has had on Japanese elites. Over the
past few years, Japan has slowly been
diplomatically overshadowed by a fast-growing
China that is intent on staving off any
counter-balancing efforts against it. Whether it
is in Southeast Asia or South Asia, China has
become a more prominent partner of many key Asian
states, partly by virtue of its large trading
links with these countries.
The rise of
China and increasing tensions between the two
countries has altered this sense of complacency.
Japan has therefore become more proactive in
maintaining its leadership role in Asia and
beyond. Japan has sought partners in Asia, other
than the US, to limit Chinese influence, if not to
contain China. Building on Koizumi's January 2002
proposal for a new Asian regionalism based on the
promotion of market economics and democratic
values, Abe has envisaged an "Arc of Freedom and
Prosperity" in essence made up of democratic
nations that line the outer rim of the Eurasian
continent.
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.
Japan in India's
strategic perspective 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
slowly seeking to develop interests-based
friendships and 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.
Third, India is wary of a China
that is striking strategic partnerships with its
neighbors, including Pakistan and Bangladesh. A
strong tie-up with Japan enables India to play
China's own game in its back yard. India also
shares Japanese (and US) concerns about China as a
regional hegemon in Asia, and believes that a
stronger partnership between the democratic
nations of Asia will exert a moderating influence
over a rising China and ensure a multipolar Asia.
Finally, India's strategic partnership
with the US envisages India as a key partner in
regional issues, and it is only appropriate that
India and Japan, as partners of the US in Asia,
develop a strong relationship.
The view
from China The Chinese are more worried about
a militarily assertive Japan than they are of a
rising India. However, coming on the heels of the
strategic partnership between India and the United
States, a similar relationship between Japan and
India is bound to ruffle feathers in Beijing.
Though India does not feature at the very
top of Chinese security threats or as a legitimate
competitor in East Asian affairs, by striking
partnerships with the two countries with the most
potential to affect China's development, India is
bound to become more assertive in its dealings
with China itself - an implication that Beijing in
all likelihood has already grasped.
Given
the strategic partnerships that the Chinese enjoy
with India's neighbors, it seems only reasonable
that India have the freedom to choose its own
strategic partners, wherever they might be. Indian
thinkers have argued that just as Indian
considerations are not allowed to affect the
Pakistan-China "all-weather
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