Abe comes to town

JAPAN is known to unswervingly follow the lead taken by the US in developing its international relations. Now that Donald Trump, despite his reservations on migration of manufacturing from the US, has given the green signal to Boeing and Lockheed Martin to set up fighter jet factories in India, Japan seems willing to follow the lead. And India, under the UPA and now Modi, has always been quick to respond. The forthcoming Gujarat visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe symbolises the close security and strategic embrace that has been in the making for several years. Abe’s visit is part of a deliberate effort to ensure the two Prime Ministers meet at least once every year despite other pressing international engagements and domestic obligations.

Several dialogue scaffoldings, very different from South Block’s way of dealing with foreign affairs, such as the India-US-Japan Foreign Ministers trilateral or the India-Japan Foreign-Defence Secretary bilateral, provide clues to the security relationship taking a new shape. It now seems to have come of age judging from the number of cooperation decisions taken during a recent defence dialogue with Japan. Underlying this dalliance is the shared core strategic assumption that both the countries have — and will continue to have — military-related disagreements with China.

On a parallel track, both sides share the view that US’ withdrawal should not give China a free pass in trade and investment in the wider region. Besides overhauling India’s key rail communication arteries, Japan wants to partner India in regions where China seems to be the only rising power. The two sides have already marked out Africa and Southeast Asia as the primary turfs for their cooperative focus. Tokyo rose to Indian expectations of solidarity by expressing clear-cut support for its stance in the Doklam faceoff. This puts a reciprocal obligation on India in the event of Japan’s dustup with China. The die is cast. Abe’s visit to Gujarat must be more than a series of adroit event management opportunities. It contains the seeds of another entente cordiale, the British-French alliance that established diplomatic understanding between the two European powers.