Japan calls upon India to join Asian ‘arc of freedom’

NEW DELHI: India and Japan vowed on Wednesday to seal an economic partnership deal by December as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged New Delhi to join Tokyo in the creation of an Asian “arc of freedom.” Abe laid out his vision for a new four-way “arc of freedom and prosperity” bringing together Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

With China rising, Japan is pushing ahead with a strategic partnership in India and other nations, but New Delhi — not keen to upset key trade partner Beijing — has said the initiative should not be seen as a “zero-sum game”.

“A new broader Asia that broke away from geographical boundaries is now beginning to take on a distinct form,” said Abe, who arrived in India on Tuesday, accompanied by 200 top Japanese executives.

“By Japan and India coming together in this way, this ‘broader Asia’ will evolve into an immense network spanning the entirety of the Pacific Ocean incorporating the United States of America and Australia,” he said in a speech to a special session of the Indian parliament.

“Open and transparent, this network will allow people, goods, capital and knowledge to flow freely,” said the prime minister, ahead of summit talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later on Wednesday.

Abe also called for early conclusion of a “high quality economic partnership” with India and forecast a more than doubling of trade between the two nations to $20 billion in three years from eight billion currently.

Earlier, top Japanese and Indian commerce officials pledged to tie up the partnership pact by year-end.

India’s Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told business leaders from both nations that the focus of economic activity had shifted from west to east.

“India and Japan need to jointly meet the challenges of the new economic architecture,” Nath said, adding he would work to ensure “this agreement by the end of the year.” Japanese officials welcomed his remarks, adding they hoped to further Japanese investment in India, which currently stands at $520 million, as a result of Abe’s trip

Agreements on political, security and defence cooperation were also expected, a Japanese foreign ministry official said, asking not to be named.

For its part, New Delhi is actively wooing Japanese investment in Indian infrastructure, with an estimated $320 billion needed over the next five years if India is to keep up its nine percent growth rate.

Abe and Singh were also likely to discuss India’s bid to join global civilian nuclear commerce after a gap of three decades.

Earlier this month India unveiled details of a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States, a pact requiring the approval of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the sale of nuclear fuel and technology.

Japan is one of the countries in the group and the only nation ever attacked with atomic bombs. A foreign ministry official said on Wednesday the country was in a “non-decision stage.”

The progress of India’s negotiations on safeguards for its reactors with the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency will be closely watched by Japan, officials have said.

India has indicated it plans to move ahead with negotiations with the atomic agency, even though the pact has sparked a political crisis, with communist allies in the coalition government demanding that it be scrapped.—AFP