Japan solidifies ties with India

This week, Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and his unusually large team, comprising seven other ministers, left New Delhi with a great deal of satisfaction. They have forged unprecedented strategic ties with India beginning with the supply of rare earths to Japanese industry and covering such diverse and extensive areas as joint naval exercise, cyber security, maritime security keeping Indian Ocean sea-lanes and traditional sea routes along the Pacific rim open for traffic.

They also agreed to open more Japanese bank branches in India along with nuclear cooperation, greater Japanese participation in non-conventional energy, smart grids, and smart urban infrastructure projects and a 26 percent Japanese equity participation in the multibillion dollar Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project.

Gemba was particularly pleased with the outcome of his team’s performance as India agreed to supply rare earths to Japan, which have been facing export embargo from China since 2010 in retaliation to the arrest of a Chinese fishing trawler captain fishing in an area of the South China seas, claimed by China but controled by Japan. Considered strategic, rare earth elements are used in the applications and manufacture of wind mills, wind turbines, cellphones and guided missiles among others.

The deal would help Japan bust the Chinese embargo. Incidentally, India and China had a face-off a year ago over India working in collaboration with Vietnam to drill crude oil in South China Sea waters off the Vietnamese coast which Beijing wants to control. Beijing wants India to back off the China Sea. India has calmly ignored the rhetoric.

The Japanese team included the country’s Minister for Economy, Trade & Industry Yukio Edano, Minister for Financial Services Shozaburo Jimi, Senior Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs Kimiaki Matsuzaki, Senior Vice-Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ken Okuda, Senior Vice-Minister for Finance Fumihiko Igarashi and Parliamentary Secretary Satoshi Takayama.

Said Japanese foreign ministry spokesperson Masaru Sato: “Japan is interested in raising the level of strategic partnership with India because both of us want a stable and prosperous order in the Asia-Pacific region. So far, the strategic dialogue has been delicate, but we wanted to lift the lid and talk about issues in a much more open and transparent manner.”