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India steps up defence, security ties with Japan
OKYO: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday stepped up defence and security ties with Japan, delivering a powerful message to China six weeks after a tense India-China standoff in Ladakh and barely a week after Chinese premier Li Keqiang's visit to India.
Placing Japan at the heart of India's Look East policy in back-to-back speeches to the Keidanren and the Japan-India Association here, Singh said, "India and the world have a strong economic and strategic interest in Japan's success."
He added, "We should intensify our political dialogue and expand our strategic consultations on regions and issues of mutual interest. Our defence and security dialogue, military exercises and defence technology collaboration should grow."
Taking off from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coinage of the "confluence of the two seas" the Pacific and the Indian Oceans Singh said he would work with Abe "to strengthen our strategic partnership, impart new momentum to our economic cooperation and deepen our dialogue on shared regional and global interests".
In 2008, Singh signed a security agreement with Japan, which put India, along with the US and Australia as Japan's top three security partners in the world. That also saw the birth of the term "Indo-Pacific" into India's discourse, reaffirming that India's strategic interests stretched to the Pacific Ocean.
Describing India and Japan as "major actors" in this region, the PM said it was the duty of India and Japan to ensure peace, security and prosperity in Asia, turning on its head the China-centric view of Asia. In a thinly veiled reference to disputes with China, Singh said, "Historical differences persist despite our growing inter-dependence, prosperity has not fully eliminated disparities within and between states, and there are continuing threats to stability and security."
Putting forward a three-step plan for cooperation with Japan, the PM said, "We should strengthen regional mechanisms ... reinforce congruence, we should promote wider and deeper regional economic integration and enhance regional connectivity, and we should uphold principles of freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce in accordance with international law, resolve maritime issues peacefully."
Singh put India on the side of Japan on the Senkaku-Diaoyu issue, without actually spelling it out. This will doubtless be noticed in Beijing without any pleasure. China and Japan have been ratcheting up tensions over sovereignty of these islands.
Singh emphasized that Japan was the only country with which India has 2-plus-2 dialogue: an attempt to ensure convergence between foreign and defence policies. Addressing Japan Inc, the PM said, "India needs Japanese technology and investment. In turn, India offers increasing opportunities for the growth and globalization of Japanese companies for the overall prosperity and growth of Japan."
India steps up defence, security ties with Japan - The Times of India
OKYO: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday stepped up defence and security ties with Japan, delivering a powerful message to China six weeks after a tense India-China standoff in Ladakh and barely a week after Chinese premier Li Keqiang's visit to India.
Placing Japan at the heart of India's Look East policy in back-to-back speeches to the Keidanren and the Japan-India Association here, Singh said, "India and the world have a strong economic and strategic interest in Japan's success."
He added, "We should intensify our political dialogue and expand our strategic consultations on regions and issues of mutual interest. Our defence and security dialogue, military exercises and defence technology collaboration should grow."
Taking off from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coinage of the "confluence of the two seas" the Pacific and the Indian Oceans Singh said he would work with Abe "to strengthen our strategic partnership, impart new momentum to our economic cooperation and deepen our dialogue on shared regional and global interests".
In 2008, Singh signed a security agreement with Japan, which put India, along with the US and Australia as Japan's top three security partners in the world. That also saw the birth of the term "Indo-Pacific" into India's discourse, reaffirming that India's strategic interests stretched to the Pacific Ocean.
Describing India and Japan as "major actors" in this region, the PM said it was the duty of India and Japan to ensure peace, security and prosperity in Asia, turning on its head the China-centric view of Asia. In a thinly veiled reference to disputes with China, Singh said, "Historical differences persist despite our growing inter-dependence, prosperity has not fully eliminated disparities within and between states, and there are continuing threats to stability and security."
Putting forward a three-step plan for cooperation with Japan, the PM said, "We should strengthen regional mechanisms ... reinforce congruence, we should promote wider and deeper regional economic integration and enhance regional connectivity, and we should uphold principles of freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce in accordance with international law, resolve maritime issues peacefully."
Singh put India on the side of Japan on the Senkaku-Diaoyu issue, without actually spelling it out. This will doubtless be noticed in Beijing without any pleasure. China and Japan have been ratcheting up tensions over sovereignty of these islands.
Singh emphasized that Japan was the only country with which India has 2-plus-2 dialogue: an attempt to ensure convergence between foreign and defence policies. Addressing Japan Inc, the PM said, "India needs Japanese technology and investment. In turn, India offers increasing opportunities for the growth and globalization of Japanese companies for the overall prosperity and growth of Japan."
India steps up defence, security ties with Japan - The Times of India
