India, Japan to sign security pact during PM’s visit
Written by Writer on Monday, October 20th, 2008
India, Japan to sign security pact during PM’s visit
20 Oct 2008, Indrani Bagchi,TNN
NEW DELHI: Forthcoming elections in both Japan and India will not deter the two PMs — Manmohan Singh and Taro Aso — from unveiling a significant strategic piece in bilateral ties with a security cooperation agreement taking pride of place during Singh’s summit visit to Japan starting on Tuesday.
However, the star of the show, which would have been an economic partnership agreement between the two sides, will not happen now. Indian and Japanese negotiators who laboured between Wednesday and Saturday failed to bridge the differences between the two sides. At the summit, therefore, the two sides will say that a “quick” conclusion of the talks would be worked on.
Japan is also expected to announce 450 billion yen for the dedicated freight corridor between Delhi and Mumbai, construction for which will start very soon, sources said. The Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor will take a while longer, because a number of loose ends still remain to be worked out. A new IIT in Hyderabad will be built with Japanese assistance — in terms of technological expertise and faculty exchanges.
The standalone security cooperation agreement comes after several years of sustained work by both sides, which now needs to be ramped up to a different level. The last joint statement between Shinzo Abe and Manmohan Singh had a big chunk devoted to security and strategic cooperation, but a standalone agreement, sources said, would make it easier for both militaries to work together on the ground, in terms of exercises, ship visits and joint patrolling of the seas.
The political significance of the security agreement will not be missed in many parts of the world, not least of which will be Beijing, where Singh will be headed after he’s done in Tokyo.
Japan needs Indian cooperation to provide cover for its oil-laden ships on the Straits of Malacca and Hormuz. India, which might be looking at transporting oil from Sakhalin, needs Japanese cover (although thus far, India has been selling its share of the oil and bringing in the proceeds). Second, Japanese ships providing support to its self-defence forces in Afghanistan need “friendly” docks in India for repairs or for just a breather.
Third, India is looking to buy some critical defence technologies and equipment from Japan at better rates — as Japanese equipment is cutting-edge, it’s also very expensive. For Japan, once the government works through its constitutional constraints, India is a market that Tokyo would like to explore.
Japan supported India at the NSG despite its open discomfort with what it felt was the dismantling of the NPT. But its move, distinct from China’s, drew praise from India because the government here was aware of the domestic battle that Japan had to win to get that far.
