India and Japan: News and Discussion

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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by SSridhar »

In a first, Japan foreign minister joins R-Day celebrations in Tokyo - Sachin Parashar, ToI
In a special and "unprecedented" gesture, Japan's foreign minister Taro Kono attended Indian embassy's Republic Day celebrations in Tokyo. Japan is, for India, the most important country in facilitating its Act East Policy.

In fact, Japan was the only country invited last month for the first ever India-Asean connectivity summit here in the run up to the just concluded Commemorative Summit.

Japan and India also last month inaugurated an Act East Forum for cooperation in India's northeast where India's Act East converges with Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy.

Speaking on India's R-Day, Kono emphasised that Japan and India were strategic partners that shared values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law.


Kono described India as one of the most important partners for promoting Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy. He added that 2017 had witnessed many positive developments in the bilateral relationship

According to India's ambassador to Japan, Sujan Chinoy, Kono warmly recalled the close relationship between the two countries as personally experienced by him when he visited India last year at the invitation of the government of India. In September 2017, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat for the Annual Summit Meeting. He pointed out that there were about 1400 Japanese companies with over 4800 Japanese establishments in India, with the number rising every year. He referred to 2017 as a great year for bilateral relations, particularly as the Japan India Year of Friendly Exchanges in which about 200 cultural events were held in India and Japan.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

https://youtu.be/hL5mKE4e4uU

School Lunch in Japan - It's Not Just About Eating!

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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by A_Gupta »

https://japan-forward.com/the-shared-in ... ia-closer/
The Shared Interests That Bring Japan and India Closer
In Prime Minister Abe’s words, “the India-Japan relationship has the greatest potential of any bilateral relationship in the world.”
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

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Japan to Indian techies rescue: Country wants to recruit 2 lakh IT professionals - Economic Times
Japan will open up its doors to about two lakh IT professionals from India, and issue green cards to settle down in Japan and support the country's rapidly expanding IT infrastructure, said Shigeki Maeda, Executive Vice President at Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), a government body, here [Bengaluru] on Thursday.

“Currently there are around 9,20,000 IT professionals in the country and there is an immediate demand for more than 2,00,000 IT professionals from India which is likely to further swell to 8,00,000 professionals by 2030," he said in his keynote address at the India-Japan Business Partnership Seminar, which was jointly organised by Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Jetro.

This is being necessitated due to the advent of rapid technological innovations in the societal needs in country. Japan wants to fill in this yawning gap and is looking towards India’s assistance in the IT space. Many Japanese companies feel the limitations to conventional “in-house innovation” and hence moving towards “most-advanced IT Technology Capabilities” for which India is the most ideal partner to look out for,” he said.

Japan, he said, is on the road to adapt and adopt innovation and emerging technologies to revolutionise its manufacturing methodology.

"Due to this conscientious process, there is a dearth of well-qualified and trained IT professionals to enhance its competitiveness, particularly, in the areas of life-science, finance, services and agriculture.”

The Japanese government, Maeda said, will be issuing Green Cards for highly skilled professionals, the first of its kind in the world, thereby, providing people to get permanent resident status in as short as one year. This is one of the fastest granted right of residence in the world.

As far as visa issuance is concerned, Japan has eased the rules for Indian travellers with effect from January 1, 2018.

As per the new norms, the applicants do not require to submit their employment certificate and letters of explanation for multiple-entry visas. Also, the number of documents to be submitted has been considerably reduced to three. In case if a person has travelled to Japan twice in one year, the documents will be reduced further to two only – i.e. just your passport and the visa application form.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

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X-posted from China thread

India and Japan commit to Indo-Pacific strategy - The Hindu
India is Japan’s “most important” partner in its “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy,” said Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, as both countries agreed to step up cooperation in their “Special Strategic and Global Partnership” during annual consultations and exchanged yen loan agreements for $1.4 billion.

“Our Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy and India’s Act East Policy should be further merged,” said Mr. Kono, in remarks that appeared to target China’s actions in the South China Sea.

“Our growing convergence on economic and strategic issues is important for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.


Ms. Swaraj and Mr. Kono discussed a wide range of bilateral issues during the 9th India-Japan Strategic dialogue in Tokyo, while setting the agenda for the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Japan for the annual summit with PM Shinzo Abe.

They also witnessed the exchange of documents for loans from Japan to India for projects including the Mumbai metro line from Cuffe Parade, a sea water desalinisation plant and a intelligent transport system to reduce traffic congestion in Chennai, tree-planting schemes in Himachal Pradesh as well as loans for the North East connectivity project.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by arun »

X Posted from the Indian Military Aviation thread to the Military Acquisitions, Indian Navy and the India and Japan threads.

Mahindra Defence press release regards joining hands with Shinmaywa Industries Limited to “set up MRO services / manufacturing and assembling of structural parts & components” for the US-2 Amphibious Aircraft :
Mahindra Defence and Shinmaywa Industries Limited Join Hands for US-2 Amphibious Aircraft

Tokyo / Chennai, April 11, 2018: Mahindra Defence’s Memorandum of Understanding with ShinMaywa Industries Limited, Japan, manufacturer of Amphibious Aircraft US-2 is one of the key events at Defexpo 2018, Chennai. Signing this MOU on the side lines of this event offers both the companies to join forces in order to set up MRO services / manufacturing and assembling of structural parts & components for US-2 amphibian aircraft.

ShinMaywa US-2, manufactured by Japan-based ShinMaywa Industries, is a modern amphibious aircraft is a veritable force multiplier since it fulfils a multitude of missions in a single platform. It is an unique aircraft and the only ‘in service’ open sea capable amphibian aircraft with state of art equipment, very rough sea operations (Sea state 5 up to 3m wave height), riverine/lake landing capability, STOL features, long endurance and extended radius of operations with large payload capacity. With such unique features, US-2 may be considered as an effective platform to carry out ‘Benign’ missions such as SAR, CASEVAC, Humanitarian Relief and Disaster Management, and ‘Constabulary’ missions such as extended EEZ surveillance,Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) missions of the Indian Navy etc. The ShinMaywa US-2 fleet is deployed by Japanese Maritime Self Defence Forces across their remote islands chain for Exclusive Economic Zones protection, surveillance and Search & rescue operations.

India and Japan are now discussing the methodology of procurement of Amphibian Aircraft US-2 requirements of the Indian Navy. Both nations are working on the way forward to induct this aircraft in India.

Both ShinMaywa and Mahindra Defence have entered into this partnership with a view to set up MRO services in India and also undertake manufacturing, assembling of structural parts & components for US-2 amphibian aircraft etc. Mahindra is the only Indian private sector OEM for small aircraft which sold in many countries globally. Given their joint capabilities it is only natural that both companies have come together and are confident of delivering solutions for this aircraft as mandated by the Indian Ministry of Defence.

Mr SP Shukla, Group President, Aerospace & Defence Sector, Mahindra Group and Chairman, Mahindra Defence, said that “This partnership between two companies familiar with the aviation business is positive especially for MRO and maintenance services in the Indian defence aerospace sector. We are committed to absorbing maintenance TOT for this large amphibious aircraft in India. Our partnership will enable us to leverage our strengths and consequently this will contribute to growing Indian aerospace ecosystem.”

Mr Yasuo Kawanishi, Director, ShinMaywa Industries Limited said, “This is a versatile aircraft ideally suited for Indian conditions. The US-2 with its unmatched capability is considered to be extremely useful for strengthening the safety and security of SLOCs, long range Fleet Support and Island/Off shore assets (both overseas and coastal) support functions. These missions when combined in a single multimodal platform such as the US-2 can earn for India the precious goodwill of nations of the Indian Ocean region commensurate with its identity as a responsible rising power. Japan Maritime Defence Force have extensively used this aircraft for many years now”

This MOU also envisages both the companies to build up a strategic partnership for future versions of US-2 amphibian aircraft.

About ShinMaywa Industries

The ShinMaywa group has a product range of Aircraft, Industrial Machinery, Environmental Systems, Special Purpose Trucks and Passenger Boarding Bridges. ShinMaywa products are exported to over 100 countries around the globe, including India. Among the defence products, it manufactures the Amphibious Aircraft US-2. The ShinMaywa Group statement “Brighten Your Future” expresses the resolve of the company to contribute to a better tomorrow and the earnest desire to play an indispensable role in society.

ShinMaywa Industries Limited: website: http://www.shinmaywa.co.jp/english/

About Mahindra Defence

Mahindra Defence has companies engaged in catering to needs of all three wings of Defence forces – Army, Air Force and Navy. Their product range includes armoured vehicles, underwater warfare equipment, avionics and surveillance equipment’s etc. Mahindra Defence is also poised to enter the field of defence aviation and has interest in building helicopters and aircraft for the armed forces. Through Land Systems units in India and UAE, Mahindra Defence has been supplying customized armoured vehicles to the Indian Army, Para Military Forces and overseas customers. Naval Systems unit based in Pune has been supplying decoy & torpedo launchers, large composite structures for defence applications to the Indian Navy etc. Mahindra Defence is also engaged in Defence Electronics and Avionics through a JV with Telephonics.

Clicky
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Suraj »

Samurai Loans: Why Indian infrastructure needs them
News that Reliance Jio has raised 53.5 billion Japanese yen (approximately Rs 3,251 crore) in Samurai loans is proof that as the telecom sector in India evolves, not only is Reliance Jio pushing for changes on how businesses are run, but it is also innovating on the capital structure front. There are important takeaways for the infrastructure sector from this Samurai loan.

Tapping into Japanese investors provides infrastructure businesses in India with an opportunity to access a large pool of capital that is looking for returns in a low interest rate environment. While an Indo-Japan collaboration through Japanese technology transfers is extremely beneficial, capital transfers through Samurai loan-type transactions is an area that deserves equal attention.

Reliance Jio’s Samurai loan allows it to borrow in a relatively low interest rate currency such as the yen and eventually swap the yen back into rupees to fund investments at home. Even factoring in for hedging costs, such transactions allow companies to borrow cheaper than a similar loan in India. Most importantly, it opens up a large pool of capital in Japanese institutions and retail investors.

To get an idea of why Japanese investors, who have traditionally invested largely in Japanese government bonds and equities, might want to start looking at offshore markets such as India, one needs to understand the policy changes and macro-economic conditions in that country, especially over the last few years. “Abenomics”, extensive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan and extremely low interest rates have all contributed to the changing macro-dynamics.

The size of assets with Japanese investors is significant, with institutions such as Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) having a total of 162.6 trillion yen of assets under management in December 2017. This makes GPIF the single-largest pension fund manager in the world. In addition, there is a structural shift underway in organisations such as the GPIF through a series of reforms initiated in 2014 — a shift that has seen the investment focus move towards international equities, bonds and alternative assets.

It is important for India to attract a part of this reallocated capital not just from GPIF but other large Japanese financial institutions. The Reliance Jio deal has shown that there is healthy appetite amongst Japanese investors for Indian businesses that have robust models.

To further understand why Japanese investors would have an interest in Indian debt-like investments one needs to look at data at an individual level. According to the annual survey by the Central Council for Financial Services Information, a body administered by the Bank of Japan, 54.1 percent of Japanese household financial assets are held in savings and bank deposits, with only 8.9 percent held in stocks.

When one considers Japan’s ageing population, one realises that the demand for fixed coupon paying assets such as bank deposits will only increase in the country. So, even if the average household does allocate more towards equities than they currently do, the demand for fixed income assets will still remain high as the population ages further. A three-year term deposit earns anything between 1 and 10 basis points in Japan.

This combination of an ageing population and high demand for fixed income assets in a low interest rate country shows us why there is demand for high quality interest paying investments in Japan. The fact that the total size of the financial assets held by Japanese households stood at $16 trillion at the end of June 2017, as per Bank of Japan data, gives us an idea of both the conundrum facing Japanese policymakers and the opportunity for Indian infrastructure businesses. To put $16 trillion in perspective: It is approximately seven times India’s GDP.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by jaysimha »

Japan Spending Billions on Defence Projects
China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean, often referred as “String of Pearls” has been
making India very anxious. However, India is not the only nation worried by the aggressive
expansionist strategies of China. Japan, which has been a strategic ally of the US and remains
under their defence umbrella, has been striving to bolster infrastructure investments in key Indian
Ocean ports to counter and contain Chinese belligerence.
In 2015, Japan announced its intentions to spend billions of dollars on infrastructure projects, and
since 2016, Japan has already committed approximately $8 billion :) to develop key ports and
related infrastructure around the Indian Ocean.
http://ris.org.in/aagc/sites/default/fi ... 0China.pdf
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by SSridhar »

X-posted from the Joint Exercise thread

India, Japan to expand defence ties, to hold first joint Army exercise this year - Rajat Pandit, ToI
India and Japan have decided to further expand their defence ties, with more bilateral combat exercises, military exchanges and top-level visits as well as collaboration in maritime security and defence production, with an eye firmly on an aggressive and expansionist China.

Towards this end, India and Japan will hold their first-ever joint Army exercise in the domain of counter-terrorism later this year, while cranking up the level of ongoing naval exercises and interactions, including those in the areas of anti-submarine warfare and mine counter-measures.

This was decided at the annual defence ministerial dialogue, with the delegations being led Nirmala Sitharaman and her Japanese counterpart Itsunori Onodera, in New Delhi on Monday.
While the Indian defence minister will visit Japan next year, the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) chief of staff will come here this November. The IAF chief, in turn, will visit Japan in December to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between the two air forces.

The India-Japan meeting came a day before Chinese defence minister General Wei Fenghe begins his visit here from August 21 to 24.

With China continuing to strong-arm its neighbours on territorial and maritime sovereignty claims in South and East China Seas, India and Japan discussed the current security situation in the Indo-Pacific region, which also included developments in the Korean Peninsula.

“The two ministers stressed the need to ensure peace and stability in the Indian and Pacific Oceans as part of the larger Indo-Pacific region. They also reaffirmed that they have shared interests in expanding cooperation in the maritime security domain, welcoming the fact that the JMSDF and the Indian Navy were working towards the signing of the 'Implementing Arrangement for Deeper Cooperation’ between them
,” said an official.

India and Japan also decided to enhance cooperative research in defence equipment and technology, noting that they had already inked “a project arrangement” on unmanned ground vehicles and robotics.

Japan, of course, remains keen to conclude the long-pending negotiations to sell a dozen of its massive US-2i amphibious aircraft to India. But India is yet to take a final call on the feasibility of the proposed procurement project, which would cost around Rs 10,000 crore.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by nvishal »

Deleted
Last edited by Suraj on 21 Aug 2018 06:31, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Unproductive drivel.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Neshant »

SSridhar wrote: India and Japan also decided to enhance cooperative research in defence equipment and technology, noting that they had already inked “a project arrangement” on unmanned ground vehicles and robotics.
Unless there is a whole lot more of joint development & production of military wares, Japan is as good as useless to India's defense security.
There is so much scope for collaboration from undersea to space projects but these Japanese are dragging their feet.
By the time they finally wake up to the idea of long term cooperation, India would have written them off and moved on.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by nvishal »

^ Japan has not fought a war since WWII. They have no operational experience. For eg: IA's requirement is based on experiences from kargil, parakram etc. It then communicates these requirements to local manufacturers or fish with RFI's in foreign markets.

Japan is under the US shield
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

nvishal wrote:^ Japan has not fought a war since WWII. They have no operational experience. For eg: IA's requirement is based on experiences from kargil, parakram etc. It then communicates these requirements to local manufacturers or fish with RFI's in foreign markets.

Japan is under the US shield
Japan lives in a very rough neighbourhood.

In spite of the US shield, she has a very highly developed, efficient as well as a most complex MIC that is capable of producing the most sophisticated of products.

What she does not want to develop on her own, she has ready access to from the US.

like germany, she has made full use of the nuke umbrella.

Japan has designed, built, and fought some of the most complex of aircraft carriers, battleships, military aircraft, aero engines, submarines, tanks etc etc, and has had one of the most feared army/navy/airforces in the world.

That kind of military cultural ethos and their national muscle memory for war just does not evaporate, the japs will simply not allow it to do so.

They are like ducks, calm on the surface but paddling furiously underneath.

They know that someday, the US will withdraw the umbrella, perhaps soon.

As far as nukes go, warheads as well as delivery systems, they are just a few screw driver turns away, just like israel.

Unlike some countries and their "in your face" atmi takth, they don't need to brandish weapons in your face, they merely and genteelly only need to suggest.

Who hasn't got this message??
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Bart S »

The Indo-Japan alliance is significant and plays an important role, simply by virtue of it existing.

Everything over and above that is a bonus, though both countries should be putting a lot more effort into expanding it and unlocking more value.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

Bart S wrote:The Indo-Japan alliance is significant and plays an important role, simply by virtue of it existing.

Everything over and above that is a bonus, though both countries should be putting a lot more effort into expanding it and unlocking more value.
the {deleted by mod} have somehow preferred the pakis over us for whatever reason and have been more forgiving of paki nuke transgressions but they are very hypocritical, critical and judgemental of our efforts and achievements.

With us, they are the one country which has very successfully unlocked commercial value much more than the military.

To me, they appear two faced, and I do not trust them but hey, that's just me.

Maybe they see more of a future market in selling their military products to us rather than just transferring critical technology, just like everyone else is insisting on doing with us.

Is it possible that everyone else sees something in us that we ourselves are incapable of seeing??

Be that as it may, and in the meantime, let's just carpe the diem and "gather ye rosebuds while ye may"
Last edited by Suraj on 21 Aug 2018 18:58, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: I'll let you go with an informal warning this time. Next time you get a full warning for any transgression. You're on thin ice.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Vips »

India may seal logistics pact with Japan like one with US.

IIndia and Japan will negotiate a logistics sharing agreement along the lines of the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed between India and the US, which will allow the two navies to work together with greater interoperability. It is yet another sign of the growing convergence between the two Asian powers, as they confront an aggressive China on their doorsteps.

Called an Acquisition, Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) that Japan has signed with its closest partners like US, Australia, UK and France, the India-Japan agreement is expected to be done by the time prime minister Narendra Modi goes to Japan for the annual summit. Modi is expected to meet Shinzo Ane on October 29 in Tokyo.

“We have started talks,” sources said. The proposal was greenlighted during the visit of the Japanese defense minister Itsunori Onodera on Monday. India and Japan held seven bilateral and multilateral naval exercises in 2017. These will only intensify in the future. Both countries are also working on a maritime domain awareness agreement. This will be akin to a white shipping agreement, but between the two navies, largely to make up for a discrepancy in the protocol — in India, white shipping agreements are handled by the navy, but in Japan, they fall under the Coast Guard. After naval and army exercises, Japan and India are looking at air force and counter-terrorism exercises.

After focusing on investment and infrastructure and economic relations, India and Japan are using this year to focus on deepening defence and security ties. With both countries adopting complementary Indo-Pacific strategies that are aimed at being more inclusive and less accepting of the expansionist and exclusionary policies of China, there is greater convergence between the two powers.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by nvishal »

India-Japan Collaboration In Defence - Janes
India and Japan have pledged to expand collaboration on defence technologies and production. These include:

A joint working group [...] geared towards identifying specific areas for collaboration

[...] and

Engagement between India's DRDO and Japan's ATLA [...] embarking on [...] the development of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) and robotics.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by SSridhar »

Japanese military jet makes stopover in Chennai - Murali N. Krishnaswami, The HindU
A Kawasaki C-2 military aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) made a short stopover at Meenambakkam airport on Saturday (September 8).

The twin-engine transport jet, which is a new plane designed and manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd., Japan, was on a multi-sector flight which began in Ankara, Turkey.


According to a source at the airport, the C-2 touched down early in the morning and was assigned a ground support vehicle. It was then parked at a remote bay. The source declined to offer more details.

The ‘T-tail’ aircraft, which can undertake a variety of strategic airlift and other tactical missions, later took off for Japan after another stopover at an airbase in Thailand. The JASDF did not respond to a query about the aircraft’s landing.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

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PM Modi accorded warm welcome on his arrival in Japan - PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his meeting with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe will add new vigour to the strong friendship between the two countries as he arrived here to attend the 13th India-Japan annual summit.

The two-day summit beginning Sunday will seek to review the progress in ties and deepen strategic dimension of the bilateral relationship.

“PM Narendra Modi arrives in Tokyo to a warm welcome for his 5th Annual Summit with Abe Shinzo. Japan is one of the few countries that India has this mechanism of annual summits, reflecting the extraordinary depth of our engagement,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

“Landed in Tokyo. I am confident this visit will add new vigour to the strong friendship between India and Japan,” Modi said in a tweet.

In a statement on Friday, before leaving for Japan, Modi described India and Japan as a “winning combination” and said the island nation was New Delhi’s most trusted partner in its economic and technological modernisation.

Modi said it will be his 12th meeting with Abe since he first visited Japan as prime minister in September 2014.

During the summit, Modi will engage with Abe on a range of issues including defence and regional security.

Abe will host Modi at his holiday home in the picturesque Yamanashi prefecture for a private dinner on Sunday following which both the leaders will travel to Tokyo by train.

Yamanashi, at a distance of around 110 kilometres from Tokyo, is surrounded by several mountains including Mount Fuji - the country’s tallest peak at around 3,776 metres.

On Sunday afternoon, Prime Minister Modi will join his Japanese counterpart for an informal lunch at a hotel. The two leaders will then visit a company which is a leading manufacturer of factory automation.

Besides bilateral issues, the two leaders are expected to deliberate on a range of regional and global issues including the situation in the Indo-Pacific region.

It is said the prime minister’s visit will reaffirm the traditional bonds of friendship between the two countries and strengthen their multi-faceted cooperation in diverse fields.

India is also hoping to have some kind of synergy or integration between Modi’s Ayushman Bharat scheme, which is the largest medicare programme of its kind globally, and the Japanese programme which is called Asia Health and Wellbeing Initiative.

Prime Minister in his statement said projects such as Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail and Dedicated Freight Corridors reflected the high level and “strength of our economic engagement”.

“Japan is also at the forefront of engaging in our national initiatives, such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’, ‘Digital India’, ‘Start Up India’.. Japanese investors have faith in India’s economic future, which is marked with myriad opportunities,” Modi said.

Modi will also address the Indian community function in Tokyo and will attend a series of business events and address the business forum.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by g.sarkar »

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/20 ... 9UpNa5KiM8
Third Modi visit to Tokyo reflects deepening of Japan-India ties
BY SAMRAT CHOUDHURY, OCT 26, 2018
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Tokyo on Sunday for a summit meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. This is Modi’s third visit to Japan as India’s leader. Abe, for his part, visited India in 2014, 2015 and 2017 as part of a growing engagement between the two countries. Among the visible outcomes of the increasing cooperation between the two countries is a small start to collaboration in defense. Next month, for the first time ever, the Indian Army and the Ground Self-Defense Force will conduct a joint exercise, taking part in drills in Vairangte, northeast India.
There are natural congruencies that have brought the two countries closer, but aspirations of continuing growth in ties will have to overcome two kinds of obstacles sooner or later. First, there are the devils in the details, such as the issue of land acquisition that has held up the $17 billion bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in India. Second, there is the gorilla in the room, which I will come to later.
India’s northeast has of late been the focus of a lot of attention from Japan. This part of the country is relatively underdeveloped and surrounded by foreign countries. In fact, only 2 percent of its land mass borders with the rest of India. The remaining 98 percent borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. This is where India’s “Act East” policy meets Japan’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.” During Abe’s visit to India last year, the two countries established the joint India-Japan Act East Forum to explore the possibilities of Japanese infrastructure development in the region. Japan is also extending Overseas Development Assistance to projects in the region, with commitments of tens of billions of yen for the development of roads alone.
Getting things to work on the ground, however, will be complicated by the internal dynamics of the provinces and the politics of the broader neighborhood. First, there is a long history of powerful insurgencies against the state in both northeast India and the northern parts of Myanmar that border it. Many of these places were historically non-state spaces. While several of the insurgencies have wound down for the present, it is not certain that some new form of violent unrest will not flare up again, for instance, over issues of migration and citizenship.
In part, this is because of a key external factor that led to the taming of the insurgencies in India’s northeast: the election of Sheikh Hasina in neighboring Bangladesh. Most of the insurgent leaders had bases in that country and ran training camps there. Hasina, who is considered friendly toward India, unlike her rival Khaleda Zia who is considered close to India’s regional rival Pakistan, put an end to that. However, Hasina is increasingly unpopular in her country, which is due for elections by January.
Apart from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, the fourth country directly or indirectly involved in northeast India and its neighborhood is China, which has a territorial dispute with India over the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh. This territory of 83,740 square kilometers is currently part of India but claimed in its entirety by China, which says it is Southern Tibet. India and China fought a war in 1962 over their differing territorial claims, and relations between the two rising Asian giants remain testy. Last year, the armies of the two countries came face to face at the trijunction of India, China and Bhutan in a place called Doklam over differing perceptions of where the border lies.
.....
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
https://thediplomat.com/2018/10/one-mor ... an-summit/
One More Tryst for Modi and Abe: What to Expect During the Latest India-Japan Summit
India and Japan continue their strategic convergence.
By Harsh V. Pant, October 28, 2018
.....
Tectonic plates of global geopolitics are shifting rapidly and both India and Japan are trying to cope up. Abe was in China this week for a landmark visit, the first by a Japanese Prime Minister in seven years. The two nations signed a number of agreements, including reviving a currency-swap deal dropped in 2013 and more than 500 business pacts even as they called for an early conclusion to a trade pact involving 16 Asian countries. The foreign policy of the Trump administration is playing a big role in this recalibration by the two Asian nations as Japan is concerned about the potential U.S. withdrawal from the region and China is grappling with the consequences of an escalating trade war with the United States. India too has tried to reach out to China in recent months with Modi’s informal summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan.
The strength of Indo-Japan ties today can gauged by the fact that neither New Delhi nor Tokyo are concerned about these recent moves. Indo-Japanese relationship has evolved to a point that the long term convergence between the two is taken as a given. As Japan’s ambassador to India, Kenji Hiramatsu has suggested “a strong India is in Japan’s best interest and for that, we must provide even more support.”
It is rare to have a strategic convergence of this order between any two nations and Modi and Abe have built on this convergence by using their personal equation. As the Indo-Pacific strategic landscape undergoes a churn, it is incumbent on the two nations to keep working together as the two primary democratic actors in the region. Apart from shaping the regional balance of power, they will have to do their bit for shaping the normative and institutional architecture of the region. That’s a responsibility that will increasingly come to these two powers and they should not be found wanting.
Gautam
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Post by ArjunPandit »

@sshridhar and @rudradev, would love to hear your thoughts on this visit, esp in light of Abe's visit to China
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by SSridhar »

Gulf in strategic precepts - Sourabh Gupta, The Hindu
Twenty years after exchanging bitter words following New Delhi’s nuclear tests, India-Japan ties exude exceptional warmth. From development assistance to maritime cooperation, both countries view each other as “special strategic and global partners.” But an unsavoury truth is apparent beneath the surface: ties are a mile wide but an inch deep. In 2011, India and Japan began implementing the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement; yet seven years later, bilateral trade has yet to hit even the $20 billion mark. India’s exports to Japan have in fact contracted in four of the past six years. Since early 2010, Japan and India have discussed joint infrastructure projects in third countries, including announcing an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. But not a single project has taken off, including in Myanmar and the Mekong countries where the two share complementary interests.

The largest gap between form and substance is evident in the area of defence cooperation. The framework of Indo-Japanese defence ties has grown considerably, including the joint declaration on security cooperation, the action plan to advance such cooperation, a defence equipment transfer agreement, a classified military information security protection agreement, and the ongoing logistical support cooperation talks. Yet, 10 years later, the two sides have failed to realise the sale of a single defence article and there exists no conventional threat-specific contingency scenario in which the two militaries can practicably cooperate. The veiled threat to interdict Chinese shipping at the Indo-Pacific’s chokepoints might make for good theatre but is poor policy. Not since the Napoleonic wars has a campaign to interdict the shipping of a major power been successfully mounted — except during a general war.

India and Japan must grapple with the gulf that separates their guiding strategic precepts if they are to transcend the hollow institutionalisation that infects strategic ties. Though swayed by competing currents of Asia-oriented or autonomy-centred diplomacy, Japan, ever since its Meiji opening 150 years ago, has never been able to successfully postulate an order beyond a Western-led alliance framework.

For its part, independent India has never sought to articulate an identity within the framework of an alliance system – be it Western or any other. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi eloquently restated at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, New Delhi remains conspicuously committed to a non-Western, pluralistic model of cooperative security in Asia.

Nuzzling together within a broader anti-China coalition can only go so far in bolstering strategic congruence. Rather, Japan must adopt a more independent-minded approach in the Indo-Pacific that is less attached to the West and more amenable to partners like India.

The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies, Washington, DC
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by SSridhar »

@ArjunPandit, there is some apprehension in Indian minds over the attempted 'reset' in relationship between Japan & China. However, the animosity between the two is far too deep-seated to be overcome. However, the point to be noted is that since WW-II, Japan has been generally conceding to China, more so after the US & China restored their relationship in 1972. But, the latest developments have to be seen in light of the policies of Trump. By Trump's calendar, India still has 8 days more to know its 'fate' due to CAATSA. So, we do not know what we will do either. While the US has sovereign rights to protect its trade, Trump is taking Bush's "with us or against us" policy too far, too rapidly and without serious concern.
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Post by ArjunPandit »

^^thanks sir, really gracious of you to respond. WION was repeating a point ad nausuem that Japan is the only country with which India has annual billateral meets. But honestly, the progress is glacial. The article you quoted very aptly summarizes the state of affairs. I am also not very hopeful if it is tilling/watering of fields that will give good harvest in future more than what would not doing anything would have given. The only + thing from japan I have seen for P2p contact is visa opening for outsiders
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Bart S »

SSridhar wrote:Gulf in strategic precepts - Sourabh Gupta, The Hindu
The writer is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies, Washington, DC

This guy is a rabidly anti-India PRC mouthpiece, and his articles during the Doklam conflict were virulently anti-Indian. His typical tone is dismissive of India, practically at the level of Gobar Times.


So while the real substance to the Indo-Japan partnership has been lacking/disappointing at times, and that point stands on it's own merits, he cannot be taken at face value or considered to be an 'Indian' commentator (despite his name), he is just speaking his master's voice and in his master's forked tongue, ably assisted by 'The Hindu' whose loyalties are well known. Treat him as a Chinese person writing in Gobar Times and the messaging and context is clearer.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

Arjun Pandit, The China- Japan meeting was in the shadow of US tariff skirmishes escalating to a trade war with US.
The world #2 and #3 economies met and resolved to improve trade.
Credit Swap Agreement (CSA) for $75B were also signed.
Compare this to CSA between China and japan is ~$30B. it possible China does not need the amount.

India meeting comes right after that this should be seen as the #4 economy meeting the #3 economy.
Again credit agreements about thrice as large as that singed by China-japan were also signed.
So all this points to promoting intra- trade as that is the new frontier.
What we see is a new Asian economic trade block just now formed between #2, 3, and, 4.

Thanks to DT, in the economic sphere West is being excluded from Asia.

World going to the two peepul leaves- one rabbit model in the economic spehre.



Rest is all sub-text.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by ramana »

Also lately I don't trust anything from The Hindu. Just gloss over it.
Its all BIF propaganda.
Never seen a genuine happy article about India after 2014.
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India and Japan: News and Discussion

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India, Japan in $75bn currency swap pact, will start '2+2' talks – TNN

NEW DELHI: As Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up his fifth summit with his counterpart, Shinzo Abe, India and Japan concluded a $75-billion bilateral currency swap agreement, a move intended to bring greater stability to the rupee and capital markets in India.

With greater strategic convergence coming into sharp relief, the two countries also agreed to start a "2+2" dialogue at the foreign and defence ministers' level as well as work together on infrastructure projects in Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, giving substance to Indo-Pacific policies.

The swap agreement, a finance ministry release said, "will enable the agreed amount of foreign capital being available to India for use as and when need arises". In 2013, India and Japan worked out another swap agreement, increasing it from $15 billion to $50 billion, when the rupee had been under stress.

An India-Japan vision statement issued after the summit-level meeting between the two leaders welcomed the swap agreement. An official said the currency swap agreement will have a positive impact on financing the current account deficit. "A strong signal to our financial and currency markets," Shaktikanta Das, a member of the 15th finance
commission, tweeted.

The summit, marked by a full day of informal meetings and deep conversations on Sunday, as well as delegation-level talks and industry outreach, saw the vision statement announce a "new era in India-Japan relations", which will enable them to "cooperate for peace, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific.

Based on their shared vision, the two Prime Ministers reiterated their unwavering commitment to working together towards a free and open Indo-Pacific. The two leaders also affirmed that Asean unity and centrality are at the heart of the Indo-Pacific concept, which is inclusive and open to all. They shared willingness to expand concrete cooperation with the US and other partners."

In comments to the media, Modi said, "Without the cooperation of India and Japan, 21st century cannot be a century of Asia. Abe San and I have agreed to the '2+2 dialogue' between our foreign and defence ministers. Its purpose is to promote peace and stability in the world."

"We both agree that from digital partnership to cyber space, from health to protection, and from sea to space, in every field we will strengthen our partnership," he added.

India and Japan also exchanged a Notes and Loan Agreement for the second tranche of Japanese official development assistance loan for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway project. Modi appreciated Japan's role in promoting connectivity through quality infrastructure projects such as the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and the DelhiMumbai
Industrial Corridor. Japan is funding 80% of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project through a soft loan of Rs 79,000 crore at an interest rate of 0.1%, with a tenure stretching over 50 years and a moratorium period of 15 years.

"The two leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to the total elimination of nuclear weapons and remained resolute in the task of strengthening international cooperation to address the challenges of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism," the statement said.

They underlined the need for all countries to ensure that their territory is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries, in an apparent reference to Pakistan, which is accused by its neighbours of providing safe havens to terrorists.

Cheers Image
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by SSridhar »

Bart S wrote:
SSridhar wrote:Gulf in strategic precepts - Sourabh Gupta, The Hindu
This guy is a rabidly anti-India PRC mouthpiece, and his articles during the Doklam conflict were virulently anti-Indian. His typical tone is dismissive of India . . .
Very true. I agree with you. These types of articles show what and whom we are up against.

He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies, Washington, DC. He would talk differently when the US interests are involved but when it comes to India this MUTU will show his 'true colours'.

The birds of the same feather flock The Hindu or the latter seeks out similar birds or both are true.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by chetak »

self explanatory, no caption required

Image



Image
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Vips »

Did Japan and India sign the logistics agreement? That is the real and meaningful deal vis-à-vis China. If they have not signed it so far then is there any Chinese red line that Japan is not willing to cross?

Two things that Japan can do to show its assertiveness against China is by leveraging/overcoming the islands dispute issue with Russia and enter into a robust defence related relationship with India which its is just paying lip service to.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by arun »

arun wrote:How times have changed when it comes to being supported against Mohammadden Terrorism emanating from the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan targeting India.Russia cannot bring herself to name the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan and provides India faint support by pussyfooting around without naming the Islamic Republic and makes no mention of Pakistan sponsored terrorist attacks at Mumbai, Pathankot and Uri. On the other hand the US has no such inhibitions in naming and shaming the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan besides explicitly mentioning Pakistan sponsored terrorist attacks at Mumbai, Pathankot and Uri.

Indo Russia Statement dealing with Terrorism:
India-Russia Joint Statement during visit of President of Russia to India (October 05, 2018)
October 05, 2018

India-Russia: an Enduring Partnership in a Changing World …………..

The Sides declared their support to Afghan government’s efforts towards the realization of an Afghan-led, and Afghan-owned national peace reconciliation process. Concerned with the unabated violence and severely undermined security situation in Afghanistan and its adverse effect on the region, the Sides resolved to work through the Moscow Format, SCO Contact Group on Afghanistan, and all other recognized formats for an early resolution to the long-term conflict in Afghanistan, end to terroristviolence, external safe havens and sanctuaries for terrorists and the worsening drug problem in the country. Both Sides called upon the international community to join efforts to thwart any external interference in Afghanistan, to restore its economy, contribute to sustaining peace and security, economic and political development of a stable, secure, united, prosperous and independent Afghanistan. The two Sides will direct their activity to launchjoint development and capacity building projects in Afghanistan. ………………………..

The Sides denounced terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and reiterated the need to combat international terrorism with decisive and collective response without any double standards. The Sides agreed to converge their efforts to eradicate terrorist networks, their sources of financing, arms and fighters supply channels, to counter terrorist ideology, propaganda and recruitment. The Sides condemned all kinds of state support to terrorists including cross border terrorism and providing safe havens to terrorists and their network. Recognizing the importance of adopting the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, pending in the United Nations, to become part of the international law, both Sides called upon the international community to make sincere efforts towards its early conclusion. То address the threats of chemical and biological terrorism, the Sides supported and emphasized the need for launching multilateral negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament on an international convention for the suppression of acts of chemical and biological terrorism.

Clicky

For contrast the US Statement that goes hammer and tongs at the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan and names and shames them:
Joint Statement on the Inaugural India-U.S 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue
September 06, 2018 ………………………….

Welcoming the expansion of bilateral counter-terrorism cooperation, the Ministers announced their intent to increase information-sharing efforts on known or suspected terrorists and to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2396 on returning foreign terrorist fighters. They committed to enhance their ongoing cooperation in multilateral fora such as the UN and FATF. They reaffirmed their support for a UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that will advance and strengthen the framework for global cooperation and reinforce the message that no cause or grievance justifies terrorism. The Ministers denounced any use of terrorist proxies in the region, and in this context, they called on Pakistan to ensure that the territory under its control is not used to launch terrorist attacks on other countries. On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, they called on Pakistan to bring to justice expeditiously the perpetrators of the Mumbai, Pathankot, Uri, and other cross-border terrorist attacks. The Ministers welcomed the launch of a bilateral dialogue on designation of terrorists in 2017, which is strengthening cooperation and action against terrorist groups, including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hizb-ul Mujahideen, the Haqqani Network, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, D-Company, and their affiliates. The two sides further reaffirmed their commitment to ongoing and future cooperation to ensure a stable cyberspace environment and to prevent cyber-attacks.

Clicky

X Posted from the India-Russia: News & Analysis

How times have changed when it comes to being supported against Mohammadden Terrorism emanating from the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan targeting India. Russia cannot bring herself to name the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan and provides India faint support by pussyfooting around without naming the Islamic Republic and makes no mention of Pakistan sponsored terrorist attacks at Mumbai, Pathankot and Uri. On the other hand the US, and now Japan, has no such inhibitions in naming and shaming the Mohammadden Terrorism Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan besides explicitly mentioning Pakistan sponsored terrorist attacks at Mumbai, Pathankot and Uri.

Extract from the India-Japan Vision Statement 0f October 29, 2018 following meeting of our PM Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe at the India-Japan Annual Summit showing Japan has none of the inhibitions regards Pakistan that Russia seems to have and mentions Mumbai and Pathankot:

They called upon Pakistan to bring to justice the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, including those of November 2008 in Mumbai and January 2016 in Pathankot. They looked forward to strengthening cooperation against terrorist threats from groups including Al-Qaida, ISIS, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Lakshar-e-Tayyiba, and their affiliates.
From MEA Website here:

India-Japan Vision Statement
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

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‘Japan, India can have constructive ties with China’ - Suhasini Haidar, The Hindu
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Japan, India and Japan agreed to a number of joint projects in the neighbourhood and in Africa, seen as an attempt to offer alternatives to countries that may be heavily indebted to China. Speaking on the outcomes of the summit, Japan’s Deputy Chief of Mission Hideki Asari says both Tokyo and New Delhi have reasons for a constructive relation with Beijing while being committed to a rules-based international order.

Q: This is the fifth bilateral meeting between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe. What was the most important outcome?

A: It was the fifth bilateral meeting, but their twelfth meeting as Prime Ministers in the past four years. I think it provided a very strong springboard for our special strategic and global partnership across all fields: political, economic, business, strategic connectivity, people to people exchange or global issues. It was important not only for Japan and India but also for the free open and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Q: So far, joint projects in the Indo-Pacific and along the Asia-Africa growth corridor have not come to fruition. Did this meeting see concrete progress on them?

A:Yes, we did. As you recall, when Prime Minister Abe visited Ahmedabad last year, the two Prime Ministers agreed to seek synergy on strategic connectivity in India and beyond. After that, we had intensive consultations on projects in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Kenya, which are now ongoing and will come to fruition very soon. In India’s northeast too, there are projects like National Highway 40, which will improve not only the connectivity in the region but also Bangladesh.

During the visit, the two countries exchanged notes for a yen loan for infrastructure projects, including most notably the bridge between Assam and Meghalaya. This will reduce the travel time from eight hours to just 20 minutes.


Q: What does the India-Japan combination provide these countries, that they don’t at present receive from other countries like China?

A:First of all, India and Japan are committed to providing quality infrastructure. Not just cheap but also good quality, which means they are resilient to the landscape. When we combine our efforts, we improve the effectiveness of each project. The project in Bangladesh (Jamuna Railway bridge) is one such example.

Q: While India and Japan are seen as part of the Indo-Pacific forum to counter China, we have seen recent outreaches to China by both PM Modi in Wuhan this year and during PM Abe’s visit to Beijing last week. Are we seeing a reset?

A:I don’t think there is any change in Japan’s vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific that is open, inclusive and willing to work with any partner who subscribes to international norms. Japan and India have promoted this vision without thinking of countering anything. Prime Minister Abe had a very good visit to China, and both Japan and India have a good reason to have a constructive relation with China. At the same time, both are committed to a rules-based order, so I don’t think there is any change.

Q: Will Japan join the Belt and Road Initiative?

A:Japan’s position on the BRI hasn’t changed. We do not express any blanket support for BRI. We believe any infrastructure development must be free and open, and any use of infrastructure must be non-exclusive and based on international standards.

We hope that the BRI takes into account such international standards and will contribute to the prosperity of the region. On this point, India and Japan are on the same page.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

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All you wanted to know about Indo-Japan currency swap - Aarati Krishnan, Business Line
During his recent visit to Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apart from discussing bullet trains and yen loans with his Japanese counterpart, also inked a deal for a bilateral currency swap arrangement. While India has such arrangements with many Asian nations, this is among the largest of such deals, valued at $75 billion. The government hopes that this deal will act as a buffer to shore up the rupee, which has depreciated by 14 per cent against the dollar this year.

What is it?

A bilateral currency swap is an open-ended credit line from one country to another at a fixed exchange rate. The country which avails itself of this loan pays interest to the country which provides it, at a benchmark interest rate such as the Libor (London Inter-bank rate).

This currency swap arrangement will allow the Indian central bank to draw up to $75 billion worth of yen or dollars as a loan from the Japanese government whenever it needs this money. The RBI can either sell these dollars (or yen) to importers to settle their bills or to borrowers to pay off their foreign loans. The RBI can even hang on to the money to shore up its own foreign exchange reserves and defend in the rupee. Should the Japanese central bank knock on India’s doors for a $75-billion loan, the RBI too is obliged to provide it at Libor, out of its own reserves.

Why is it important?


In recent times, the rupee has been falling against the dollar because of its widening current account deficit (the difference between imports and exports of goods and services). This leads to importers upping their demand for dollars far beyond what exporters bring into the country.

While the RBI had amassed foreign currency reserves of over $426 billion by April 2018, it has had to use up some of this in recent weeks to prop up the rupee. Though present forex reserves at over $390 billion are still comfortable, having a $75-billion loan-on-demand from Japan gives the RBI an additional buffer to fall back on, should it need extra dollars.

A swap arrangement with Japan provides considerable comfort to India, because Japan is the second largest holder of dollar reserves in the world after China and is sitting on fat coffers of over $1,250 billion. Therefore, while Japan is quite unlikely to ask India for a dollar loan, India can make use of such a loan at rock-bottom interest rates.

But what’s in it for Japan? Well, Japan may see this deal as quid pro quo for lucrative investment deals that help Japanese companies set up shop in India.

China and Japan also use bilateral currency swaps as instruments to fight the hegemony of the dollar, as it coaxes more countries to use their currency to settle their bills.

Why should I care?

Think of how convenient it would be if you had a rich uncle who told you – “I really like you, beta. Anytime you need ₹75 lakh, just ask me and I’ll give you a loan at an ultra-low interest rate.”

Even if your finances were on the brink, you would probably sleep easy knowing that you have this lifeline. Your own credit-worthiness with others would go up a few notches after this deal because everyone knows you have this ₹75 lakh on tap.

Currency swaps between countries work much the same way, except that in a bilateral arrangement, both countries are expected to play rich uncle to each other.

So, will this deal immediately boost the rupee? It may not, because it remains only on paper until India actually asks Japan for the loan.

But it does boost the confidence of importers and investors dealing in the rupee, as they know that there’s a rich uncle waiting in the wings.

The bottomline

Maybe this is a sweeter deal than bullet trains.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by nandakumar »

Some additional piece of information. This is the third of similar agreements from the past. The first such agreement was in 2008 for a swap of $25 billion. This was increased to $50 billion in 2013. The latest takes it to $75 billion. Ever since such an agreement was signed India have not had to avail of drawal from such a swap agreement to date. Of course neither has Japan had to borrow from India. Whenever leaders visit one another it is customary to sign agreements. Many of them are token in their impact. This is one such.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Pulikeshi »

nandakumar wrote:Some additional piece of information. This is the third of similar agreements from the past.... Whenever leaders visit one another it is customary to sign agreements. Many of them are token in their impact. This is one such.
If one were to believe this has no impact, then there is no information in this news, but yet there is! :mrgreen:
The macro economic trends driving this is more than routine... India has done well to build safety nets.
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Post by nandakumar »

Japan's outstanding loans and still to be disbursed quantum approved loans could easily add up to $75 billion. In that sense, this is no doubt a ringing endorsement of India's macro economic fundamentals. Only saying that these swap arrangements won't really be called in. They are just part of diplomacy.
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India–Japan embrace should stretch out to Eurasia - Jagannath Panda, East Asia Forum
No other partnership has witnessed the kind of unprecedented progress that the India–Japan partnership has over the last two decades. The new India–Japan Vision Statement — a product of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tokyo to meet his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe from 28–29 October 2018 — reiterates the two leaders’ commitment to work together in the Indo-Pacific and the world at large.

Countries like Australia and the United States draw a link between India–Japan ties and the evolving Indo-Pacific concept. This articulation of the India–Japan relationship is maritime-centric and focusses on the two countries’ role in the maintenance of a ‘free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific’. To strengthen the global character of India–Japan relations, a Eurasian framework should be pursued in parallel to an Indo-Pacific one.

Economic cooperation in Eurasia is a viable proposition that India and Japan should explore in developing their ‘global’ partnership. Such a partnership must be driven by the two countries’ shared strategic and economic imperatives. Balancing China’s influence in Central Asia and Europe — arising from its Eurasian leg of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) — could be one such strategic motive.

China may hold significant influence in Central Asia, but India–Japan collaboration in the region could tilt the strategic balance and provide Central Asian states with more room to manoeuvre. And while Russia may appear to be supportive of the SREB, it is apprehensive of Beijing dominating the region. Notably, Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union is looking for new partnerships — an opportunity that both Japan and India should capitalise on.

To construct a Eurasia-specific framework, India–Japan cooperation with Russia, Central Asia and Europe will be required. To accomplish this, Tokyo could revisit former prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto’s ‘Eurasian diplomacy’ policy of the 1990s. Hashimoto’s goal was to give Japan a dynamic regional foothold to enable strategic options vis-a-vis its relationships with China and the United States.

Hashimoto’s ‘Eurasian diplomacy’ may not have drawn Japan much economic applause, but it did go some way towards convincing Moscow to partner with Tokyo despite the two countries’ ongoing territorial disputes. Abe must revisit this policy and rekindle a relationship with the Eurasian region, this time with New Delhi at Tokyo’s side.

New Delhi’s past outreach in Central Asia — where China, Japan, the United States, the European Union (EU) and Russia have emerged as the main players in the post-Soviet period — is comparatively insignificant. India’s ‘Connect Central Asia’ policy, initiated in 2012, aims to reposition its interests through political and economic outreach to Central Asia and Russia.

India and Russia’s relationship is not currently at its strongest. Still, New Delhi has not distanced itself from engaging bilaterally and multilaterally with Moscow. India’s membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was largely possible due to Russia’s resolute support, which China could not dismiss. While the Russia–India–China trilateral strengthens India’s Eurasian legacy, a framework like BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) enriches India’s multilateral cooperation with both Russia and China.

Beijing is taking over the ‘Silk Road Diplomacy’ that was envisioned by Hashimoto. Cooperation with Central Asian countries is a core pillar of the SREB. India and Japan could attempt to balance China’s outreach by strengthening India’s ‘Connect Central Asia’ policy and reviving Japan’s ‘Silk Road Diplomacy’.

The latter’s revival could build off Japan’s ‘Central Asia plus Japan’ policy advancement that was introduced in 2004 under then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi. Japan’s approach to Central Asia under this policy is government-driven and focusses on development assistance. Tokyo’s desire to play a constructive role in the region would be enhanced through third-country cooperation with India in the Central Asian states, both public- and private-sector initiated. This effort would be commensurate with Japan’s well-known global economic diplomacy.

Above all, India–Japan relations need to be rationalised beyond the US-led Indo-Pacific framework. The US–China trade war should propel them to search for new avenues of global cooperation. Europe could be the answer despite its hitherto China-centric approach to Asia.

The US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2017 has encouraged the EU to view Asia through a new prism. Japan and the EU’s Strategic Partnership Agreement and Economic Partnership Agreement have deepened bilateral ties, and India’s relationship with the EU is also changing from one of donor–recipient to a ‘partnership of opportunities’.

An India–Japan–EU trilateral framework could provide new momentum for cooperation. Both India and Japan already share a common platform with the EU in ASEAN and other multilateral organisations to promote a rules-based, fair and democratic international order. A partnership within the Eurasian framework would certainly strengthen this further and influence the global balance of power.

Jagannath Panda is a Research Fellow and Centre Coordinator for East Asia at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi. He is also the Series Editor for Routledge Studies on Think Asia.
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Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by nam »

Money from Japan is all good, however for me it has been a disappointment. We want tech from Japan. Want them to build our tech industry just like they did with China.

However so far it has been complete disappointment. No major tech investment by Japanese companies. They prefer to import from China in to India.

Hope the bullet train brings some tech.
Bart S
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Posts: 2938
Joined: 15 Aug 2016 00:03

Re: India and Japan: News and Discussion

Post by Bart S »

nam wrote:Money from Japan is all good, however for me it has been a disappointment. We want tech from Japan. Want them to build our tech industry just like they did with China.

However so far it has been complete disappointment. No major tech investment by Japanese companies. They prefer to import from China in to India.

Hope the bullet train brings some tech.

Nobody does that. They didn't go to China to 'build the Chinese tech industry', they did so because China delivered on the infrastructure, logistics and labour laws and they saw the opportunity to make money from it. We are building infrastructure at least, albeit much slower than the Chinese pace, but on labour reform it has been a big zero from all govts including current central and state ones so far. Don't expect large scale manufacturing to come here without that. India did have an advantage with electronics R&D and NPI type operations at least, but the Chinese have taken that over starting from low-end assembly and moved far ahead.
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