Indo-Japanese Relation a Need of the Hour

Things you see in the rear view mirror are not very far.  The name Radha Gobind Pal is not old enough to be forgotten by the Japanese at least. In fact they revere him more than any Indian & have two shrines the Yasukuni Shrine and the Kyoto Ryozen Gokoku Shrine with busts  specially dedicated to Judge Radha Gobind Pal.  Ryōma and his associate Nakaoka Shintarō  the national heros of the Mieji Restoration who dreamt of an independent Japan without feudal trappings  are also given a place of honour in these shrines. Judge Pal was one of the Asian judges appointed to the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, the "Tokyo Trials" of Japanese war crimes committed during the Second World War. Among all the judges of the tribunal, he was the only one who submitted a judgment which insisted all defendants were not guilty; Judge Pal never intended to offer a juridical argument on whether a sentence of not guilty would have been a correct one. However, he argued that the United States had clearly provoked the war with Japan and expected Japan to act. On 14 December 2006, Manmohan  Singh the PM of India, made a speech in the Japanese Diet stating  “The principled judgment of Judge Radhabinod Pal after the War is remembered even today in Japan. Ladies and Gentlemen, these events reflect the depth of our friendship and the fact that we have stood by each other at critical moments in our history”.

The two nations are once again working on kindling the fire of friendship with development of economic, financial, industrial and cultural sinews.  India’s regional policy will get a shot in the arm with the help from a highly developed country helping it steer its manufacturing revolution and providing hi-tech solution to its defence problems.

 As East Asia forsees changes in the regional order due to distractions in US policy towards security gurantee  to Japan, that started from the Obama era; which allowed China to establish itself in South China Sea; Japan is getting uneasy. In fact, the recent launch of a missile by North Korea over Japanese island of Hikkaido has not drawn reactions from USA which can be called strong enough for deterrence and the fact that China accounts for 90% of North Korean imports is making Japan uneasy.  It has begun to wonder that it has to face the twin challenge of North  Korea & China all alone. China has begun to alter status quo in South China Sea by constructing islands on low tide elevations, these islands will be used as military base in future. China claims that it has ‘indisputable sovereignty’ over the land features and waters involved in the South China Sea. It refuses to be bound by the UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ) tribunal’s anticipated decision on the grounds that the decision will necessarily deal with issues of territorial sovereignty (who owns which disputed islands) and maritime delimitation (how conflicting national water boundary claims should be resolved) and that China has never consented to any third party impartial arbitration of these issues. Both India & Japan use the sea lanes that pass through that region.  

In Doklam, China preferred to change the status quo by consolidating their position in a region crucial for Indian defence posture. On August 28, 2017, it was announced that India and China have mutually agreed to a speedy disengagement on the Doklam plateau bringing to an end a military face-off that lasted for close to three months. Chinese foreign ministry sidestepped the question of whether China would continue the road construction. The CPEC corridor through disputed POK is already a threat to India. Sovereignty over two separate pieces of Indian territory has been contested by China in Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh. The McMahon Line which was part of the 1914 Simla Convention between British India and Tibet, has been rejected by China. Though India’s maturity and diplomatic stance helped in resolving  the Doklam  issue, but the uncertainty still exists till the next time when the status quo will be tampered again by China in some other sector. Down south Chinese presence in Srilanka (Hambantota) is now real and how far it will effect India’s maritime endeavor in times to come is anyone’s guess.

Abe was  here to rekindle the fire of friendship between Japan & India  and strengthen the coalition against a common challenge. Japan is keen to expand infrastructure projects  amid China’s OBOR initiative and, along with India, it is exploring opportunities to develop projects in ASEAN. This is part of Indo-Japan corridor  for the Indo-Pacific region that also extends to Eastern Africa under Asia Africa Growth Corridor, an initiative that would provide an alternative to OBOR, which is being implemented in a non-transparent fashion dictated by China’s interests.  Only  close cooperation between the two nations;  in commerce , cultural and defence  will help improve the trust and tide over  common challenges and drive forward, while looking in the rearview mirror.