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Japan Seeks Partnership with India
NEW DELHI - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wooed India on Friday, aiming to build a partnership with New Delhi to cope with the growing clout of China in a changing continent. "The world's attention is fixed on India's breathtaking progress," Koizumi told business leaders, ahead of talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. His three-day trip to India, the first by a Japanese prime minister in five years, comes only weeks after a landmark visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and is part of Tokyo's "strategic diplomacy" to compete with Beijing. India's own growing economic and geo-political clout is not lost on Tokyo which, over the past few weeks, has been trying to cope with anti-Japanese sentiments in China. "Japan and India need each other as strong and prospering countries. Japan and India share strategic interests," Koizumi said. Koizumi and Singh were due to sign a document to strengthen bilateral ties and increase cooperation in their bids to win permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council. TECTONIC SHIFTS "Japan is now becoming cognisant of India's strategic profile in the coming 10-to-15 years and wants to build a foundation for long-term strategic ties," said Uday Bhaskar, director of the New Delhi-based Institute of Defense Studies and Analyzes. Tokyo and New Delhi are also trying to improve trade ties hurt when India conducted nuclear tests in 1998, prompting sanctions from Japan. India-Japan trade was $4.35 billion in the year ending March 2004, about one third of New Delhi's two-way trade of more than $13-billion with China. "Countries like South Korea, China and the United States have recognized the intrinsic strength of the Indian economy...and have made significant investments in India," Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. "Japan, on the other hand, has remained somewhat hesitant." Japan lifted its sanctions on India in October 2001 in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States and Tokyo has gradually turned its attention to India in recent years. Koizumi will also travel to Pakistan where he is likely to announce Tokyo's decision to resume yen loans to Pakistan, suspended after its nuclear tests in 1998, Japanese officials said. |
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