What is the issue?
A strong Indo-Japanese partnership can help counter China, which aspires to become a hegemonic power in the region.
Where does their interests lie?
- Japan serves as India’s most important partner across the Indian Ocean neighbourhood in the past decade.
- It has set aside the serious differences in the years following the 1998 nuclear tests and has promoted nuclear energy cooperation with India.
- Both countries also recently issued strategic guidance to their respective militaries to strengthen communication to build trust and understanding.
How do they ensure co-operation with China?
- India and Japan closely cooperate on their relationship with China, including on measures to see that tensions with China do not get out of control.
- China and Japan also agreed to cooperate on maritime search and rescue missions, to set up a military hotline and commence dialogue between their militaries.
- This could avoid escalating tensions across disputed maritime boundaries in the East China Sea.
- There has been a measure of congruence in the approach of India and Japan, to maintain peace and tranquillity across their respective land and maritime boundaries with China.
- However, both of them have been challenged by Chinese territorial claims, actions and ambitions, together with China’s quest to become a hegemonic power in Asia.
What are the concerns with Chinese diplomacy?
- China is committing itself primarily for infrastructure development in India’s South Asian and Indian Ocean neighbourhood.
- However, countries in the neighbourhood region become overly dependent on China, which made them to fall into a debt trap.
- To avoid that, Myanmar recently cut down the size of Chinese investment in the strategic Kyaukpyu port, worried about walking into a debt trap.
- Economists in Pakistan express unhappiness at what they see as Chinese exploitation in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
- Malaysia has also rejected Chinese offers of aid for a massive rail-road project.
- Similar sentiments are now being voiced about Chinese aid across Africa and Central Asia.
What should be done?
- Japan has significant financial and technological resources to play a major role in developmental and infrastructure projects in Indo-Pacific countries.
- Thus, India should therefore work in close cooperation with Japan on economic development projects across the Indian Ocean region.
- India should also engage with the US and EU to develop structures for multilateral investments across Asia and Africa.
Source: Business Line
