With India joining, a trilateral kind of relationship has emerged between India, Japan and the US. China may be watching with interest how foreign relations are being reshaped in this part of the world.
Both India and Japan began the first round of talks on June 28 in Tokyo aimed at sealing a bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation pact. What transpired in the meeting was that both the countries agreed to work out arrangements to allow Japan to export its nuclear power generation technology and related equipment to India, while banning India from using them for military purposes. India was also debarred from transferring them to another country.
Nuclear power generation
On June 18, the Japanese Cabinet had adopted a new 10-year growth strategy, which included promoting export of nuclear power generation facilities. Against this backdrop, Japan is keen to ink an agreement with India within an early date. When the prime ministers of the two countries met in Toronto in June on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting, they had reaffirmed their intention to cooperate in the field of nuclear power generation.
Japan feels increasingly uncomfortable with a rising China whose desire for power on world stage never remains in doubt and therefore, Japan seeks a better position for itself. Strengthening business ties with India could be one way to secure its own interests.
What is more important to roping in Japan into a nuclear arrangement with India is that both the US and France want to use Japanese-made equipment in nuclear power plants they aim to build in India. Both these countries and Japanese firms are urging Tokyo to facilitate their business in the emerging India.
Nuclear issue is sensitive in Japan. Japan’s planned nuclear accord with India faces severe roadblock as public criticism is quite high. This is because India has developed nuclear arms and not a signatory to the NP. The Japanese public, therefore, want the government to call on India to work on nuclear disarmament with sincerity.
It may be remembered that Japan is the only country that has faced the devastation of a nuclear bomb, when the US dropped the bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, thereby bringing the World War II to an end. No wonder, the representatives from Hiroshima and Nagasaki urged the Japanese government to halt negotiations with India to seal a civilian nuclear cooperation pact. The anti-nuclear groups in Japan say the move hampers international efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.
But when Japan takes into consideration the changing geopolitics in the region, and weighs economic benefits accruing from such a pact, Japanese government’s policy appears forward looking. Japan is impressed with India’s impeccable nuclear record and understands why India has taken the position not to sign the NPT. The Japanese government also feels that it would be meaningless if Japan alone refuses to extend nuclear cooperation to India, as other countries have given the green light to offering nuclear technology and equipment for India’s civilian programmes.
The 2+2 dialogue was held in New Delhi recently. While the Indian side was led by foreign secretary Nirupama Rao and defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, the Japanese side was led by deputy foreign minister Kenichiro Sasae and vice defence minister Kimito Kakae. The purpose of the meeting was to build an institutional framework for security cooperation. The annual summit meetings at prime ministerial level are going on for last few years. Following then prime minister Hatoyama Yukio’s visit to India in December last, it is the turn of Manmohan Singh to pay a return visit to Tokyo sometime later this year.
The economic component of the relationship is now being complimented by a strategic dimension that would make the bilateral ties robust in the coming years.
(The writer is a senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi)