India and Japan: News and Discussion

Hari Seldon · Post by **Hari Seldon** » 22 Oct 2010 09:47

^^^ Another generation and chances are Japan's days as a honorary gora looking down on us SDRE types will well be over. Perhaps. Real estate bubble may have burst back in 1989-90 but the ego bubble persists big time. Will take another generation to deflate that too, perhaps. Time will tell and time is increasingly on our side.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 24 Oct 2010 11:07

As Man Mohan Singh heads for Japan, nuclear deal stuck on CTBT link

One suggestion Japan floated in the last round is for India to at least join the International Monitoring System (IMS) under the CTBT. The IMS, a work in progress, is currently a network of 321 monitoring stations and 16 radionuclide laboratories for detecting any sign of a nuclear explosion.

``If India agrees to be a part of IMS, this will have a bearing on the India-Japan civil nuclear agreement. There is reluctance in Japan to proceed with this agreement because India is not part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the events 12 years ago [India conducting nuclear tests] is recent history. So Japan expects India to be more forthcoming,'' said Japanese diplomats.

However, the stalemate is likely to continue as India is averse to getting entangled in any CTBT-related organisation. “The idea is to slowly draw us in and we are not going to agree,” well-placed Indian sources told The Hindu. {Absolutely} Earlier, the suggestion some countries made was for India to at least help fund the CTBT Organisation (CTBTO) and attend its meetings as an observer. But New Delhi has stuck to its guns.

Japan is aware of the Indian position on CTBT, which was reiterated by Dr. Singh to then Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, here in December last year. Sources said Dr. Singh observed that a new environment would be created if the U.S. and China ratified the CTBT.

Japanese officials expect their side to point out that the political situation in the US is hardly conducive to ratifying the CTBT, with U.S. President Barack Obama's Democratic Party expected to lose seats in the coming elections. “Then naturally we expect more from India. I guess Japan will take this up,” said a Japanese diplomat while pointing out that Tokyo had wanted India to sign the CTBT and announce a unilateral moratorium on production of weapons grade fissile material when its case was put up before the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008. “None of these became an element in the letter given by then Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee to the NSG. Our basic position remains the same,” he added.

But Indian diplomats are confident the Japanese inflexibility on this issue can be worked on. After all, the initiative for beginning civil nuclear talks came from the Japanese side during the visit of its Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima in May this year.

Within 90 minutes of making the proposal and on Japanese request, the Indian side had gathered a team and started the first round of talks. Significantly, senior officials of Japanese majors Mitsubishi and Toshiba, which have substantial involvement in the civil nuclear sector, were also in the capital and are understood to be the main driving force behind the initiation of the talks.

New Delhi also points out that India had been accepted as a responsible nation that had a good track record of nonproliferation and was committed to total disarmament. India has signed seven civil nuclear cooperation pacts and two more are in the pipeline. In global R&D on nuclear energy, India is part of the International Thermal Energy Research project in which Japan is the lead country.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 24 Oct 2010 11:45

Pulikeshi wrote:How much of the Japanese posturing is ideological and how much has to do with
the ongoing negotiations on nuclear liability? Only time will tell I guess....

They think no end of themselves.

After they got well and truly creamed and got two the big bombs dropped on them for good measure, their national honor has been hurt badly.

Their national family jewels has shrunk to the size of small peanuts and they are trying to redeem it by talking down to folks like us. They would never talk to the goras like that because of previous civilizational history and the bloody aftermath.

Ever hypocritical, their nuclear weaponization technology is just a few screw driver turns away.

After their savage atrocities in china during the wars,
they fear that they will be over run and annihilated by the hans given the slightest opportunity. It's the period before the inhalation, the payback time, that worries the japs because the hans were never a forgiving or a forgetting civilization.

That is why they swallow all the public humiliation from the hans, not really knowing how far the hans will go, driven as they are by their pure hatred for the japs and not logic. The hans know this very well and use it to their fullest advantage.

They japs have nukes all right, the hypocrites.

RajeshA · Post by **RajeshA** » 25 Oct 2010 02:26

Published on Oct 25, 2010
By Pramit Pal Chaudhuri
Why Japan tilted towards India: Hindustan Times

Three things changed the game. One, Chinese bellicosity and Japanese economic decline helped seal a political consensus in Tokyo that for reasons either strategic or economic, India was an essential part of Japan’s foreign partnering. Thus, when the present Democratic Party of Japan came to power, virtually their first action was to kick off the industrial corridor. They were soft on China, but their economic growth strategy had a huge India component. This helped reassure New Delhi as well. Indian officials often fretted about Japan’s short-lived governments.

Two, closer relations between India and the US helped Japan get the confidence to raise the stakes. Thus was born the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, a $90 billion whopper that, when completed, will give India a state-of-the-art manufacturing and exporting base. When Indian officials talk about Indo-Japan relations being transformational, they are talking about this sort of thing.

Three, India Inc knocked the kimonos off Japan Inc by winning Alfred Deming Prizes. Demings are given for quality manufacturing. Over the past decade, unknown Indian auto-component firms began beating competitors, including Japan. In the past 10 years, India has won more Demings than any other country other than Japan itself. Corporate Japan was convinced: India had proven it wasn’t just another grimy face.

Cosmo_R · Post by **Cosmo_R** » 25 Oct 2010 03:37

Please be careful ^^^. 'Japs' is a racial pejorative and we should not use it.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Oct 2010 04:21

All posters, pl refrain from referring to the Japanese as 'Japs'.

SureshP · Post by **SureshP** » 25 Oct 2010 04:50

I don't begrudge the japanese being wary and taking their time. They have their reasons, and their own burdens of history, to work through. The slow movements, the gentle but consistent chiving, will produce the results both parties can live with. Eventually.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Oct 2010 11:12

Manmohan Singh says India won't force the n-issue on Japan
I like the way the Indian position has been put across to the Japanese.

With Japan playing hard ball in the negotiations on the civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said he would not “force” it on Tokyo as he recognises its sensitivity on the subject.

However, Dr. Singh, who is here on a two-day visit, said he would like Japanese firms to participate in expansion of India’s nuclear industry.

“We would hope that Japan will be India’s partner in expansion of its civil nuclear industry for peaceful purposes. But I do recognise the sensitivity of the subject in Japan and will not therefore force the issue,” he told a business luncheon meeting here.

Observing that with India’s rapid economic growth, the demand for energy has been rising rapidly, Dr. Singh told the business leaders that cooperation between the two countries in this area will “enable Japanese companies to participate in India’s ambitious nuclear energy programme.”

csharma · Post by **csharma** » 25 Oct 2010 12:39

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... c06ab9.871

India, Japan PMs to confirm trade pact

Hideaki Kase, a historian and commentator on diplomatic issues, said the timing of the Indian leader's visit, amid the Japan-China spat, would allow him to stress the shared democratic values of their countries.

"It is a very timely visit as it is during times of an anti-Japanese movement in China and as India's presence is becoming bigger in Japan," he said. "It's almost a divine gift."

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 25 Oct 2010 13:05

intersting snippet in the daily telegraph on this forthcoming visit... suggestion that India (with Japanese help) can become a significant source of rare earth metals (and supplant china)
the N thing seems to be a done deal, which is no bad thing

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 25 Oct 2010 13:16

Lalmohan wrote:... suggestion that India (with Japanese help) can become a significant source of rare earth metals (and supplant china)

Germany would also welcome that. Both Japan & Germany are seemingly hit by the sudden Chinese embargo after the Japanese spat with the Chinese fishing trawler.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 25 Oct 2010 13:35

SSridhar wrote:All posters, pl refrain from referring to the Japanese as 'Japs'.

Noted saar,

Apologies.

vic · Post by **vic** » 25 Oct 2010 16:00

The best thing would be collaborate with France-Europeans and set up the manfacturing of Japanese components in India itself.

Nihat · Post by **Nihat** » 26 Oct 2010 00:05

PM urges Japan to be part of India's growth story

rsingh · Post by **rsingh** » 26 Oct 2010 00:29

From Japan times

The EPA will eliminate tariffs on 94 percent of two-way trade in 10 years after the pact takes effect. The tariffs to be abolished include those on Indian exports of car components, DVD players, video cameras, peaches and strawberries to Japan, while Japan would improve access to most industrial products, as well as durian, curry, tea leaves and shrimp.

Indian exports of cars parts, DVD players, video caleras ...........to Japan

putnanja · Post by **putnanja** » 26 Oct 2010 04:51

The headline doesn't actually reflect what was said ...

India skirts Tokyo’s China trap

...
...
The word from the Japanese side was that Kan — facing domestic flak for reportedly letting China have an “upper hand” — was “anxious” when Singh came calling.

“So anxious he was that he departed from protocol and stood near the elevator to receive the Indian PM. In normal circumstances, he would have remained in his official chamber,” a source said.

Foreign secretary Nirupama Rao, who was asked in a media briefing about the discussion the two had on China, said: “They did refer to the relations each country has with China and how important these relations are from the strategic point of view. The Japanese PM was interested in knowing from our PM on the development of our relationship with China and how the relations have grown.” She did not say what Singh said, the sense that came through in her answer was that both sides had outstanding issues awaiting resolution with China.

But the answer lay in drawing the country in a “peaceful and engaging” way. “India has boundary issues to resolve with China, Japan has maritime issues. We have a well-functioning system to discuss these issues in a peaceful and engaging way,” said Rao.

Asked whether India would allow itself to be used as a “counter-power” against China, given how Beijing was “creating problems” for other countries in the region, Rao said: “You have to look at India, Japan and China as the largest economies of Asia. India and Japan are democracies. India and Japan have China as their neighbour. It is a reality, a fact of life. Both countries have to develop an in-depth relationship with China as times go by.”
...
...
Rao quashed speculation that Singh and Kan’s decision to explore the possibility of bilateral cooperation in the development, re-cycling and re-use of rare earths and metals in research and development of their substitutes was a direct challenge to China since it also figures high on its geo-political agenda. The decision was part of their joint statement.

Replying to a related question, she said, “This is an Indian-Japanese centric process. Since 1952, India and Japan are working on rare earth and looking at long-term cooperation on the issue. If you are looking for drama, theatre, no, this is a very need-based, functional thing. There is a very high degree of trust between our two democracies and this is the ambience in which such cooperation is being done.”

...

harbans · Post by **harbans** » 26 Oct 2010 05:09

SSridhar wrote:
All posters, pl refrain from referring to the Japanese as 'Japs'.

Wakarimashita..well said.

SureshP · Post by **SureshP** » 26 Oct 2010 05:58

ANALYSIS
Uncertainty over tests stymies India nuclear pact

By MAYA KANEKO

Torn between economic gains and a national credo of abolishing nuclear weapons as the only country struck by them, Japan faces a dilemma in negotiating a civilian nuclear cooperation pact with India.

The three-day visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh once again highlights Japan's ambivalent feelings toward the proposed pact, which would allow Japanese firms to export nuclear power generation technology and related equipment to India.

Tokyo has been negotiating a legal framework for peaceful use and transfer of nuclear-power technologies with other energy-hungry emerging nations, but India's case is unique because it has nuclear weapons but refuses to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The launch of bilateral talks in June on the nuclear cooperation accord triggered an immediate outcry from survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

But at the same time, Japan has been trying for years to pull itself out of the economic doldrums by boosting growth through exports of infrastructure, including nuclear power plants, amid intensifying international competition for large projects.

Tokyo also has a diplomatically strategic reason for strengthening ties with India, because the fast-growing Asian democracy could serve as a counterbalance to China, which has recently adopted an increasingly confrontational stance toward Japan over territorial and other issues.

Kumao Kaneko, a former diplomat who served as the first chief of the Foreign Ministry's nuclear energy division, said Japan should lend a helping hand to India because the South Asian country craves atomic power to meet growing domestic energy demands. India plans to build 20 new nuclear power plants by 2020.

"Without Japan's technology, new nuclear power generation projects in India would not start," Kaneko said. "Refusing to offer support to India when it really needs it could ruin Japan's credibility as a friend of India. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed."

India, which has developed its own nuclear reactors with technologies transferred from the United States and Canada, concluded civil nuclear cooperation pacts with other countries, including the United States and France, after a consensus was reached in September 2008 by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

The NSG consensus allows New Delhi to start trading nuclear technologies for civilian nuclear programs with 46 member states. It was reached as India committed to strengthening the nonproliferation regime and maintaining a unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing voluntarily.

However, General Electric Co. of the United States and Areva SA of France cannot proceed with their projects to build reactors in India because they need reactor vessels made by Japan Steel Works Ltd., which accounts for nearly 80 percent of global supplies of forged nuclear reactor parts.

Therefore, Washington and Paris have urged Tokyo to sign the civilian nuclear pact with New Delhi so they can use Japanese technology.

In a move believed to be intended to assuage critics of the pact, Japanese negotiators demand the accord include a clause qualifying that Tokyo will halt nuclear energy cooperation if New Delhi conducts a nuclear test. But India has so far refused such a proposal.

Kaneko pointed out that India did not agree with the United States to include such a clause in their bilateral civil nuclear pact, leaving Washington to stipulate measures on halting cooperation in the event India carried out a nuclear test in a U.S. domestic law.

"India thinks incorporating such a clause in the nuclear pact would violate its sovereignty and Japan will not likely achieve what the United States failed to do," he said.

Instead, Kaneko proposed that the envisioned accord present a message to heed the antinuclear sentiment of A-bomb survivors. He also expected negotiations on the pact between Japan and India to take more than a year to conclude due to the expected rough going.

A Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Japan could respond to any nuclear test held by India by halting cooperation in line with domestic law.

But it would be unrealistic for Japan to withdraw materials and technologies offered to India once reactor construction is completed, the METI official said. Some critics say halting cooperation after a nuclear test is insufficient.

Even if Japan declines nuclear cooperation with India, more suppliers will surface in the future, he said.

"In that case, there will be global supply chains without Japanese makers and our nuclear power industry will be put in a disadvantageous position," the official said.

A Foreign Ministry official, who declined to be named, also said Japan will be able to seek tighter regulation of India's nuclear program through a bilateral nuclear pact.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 026a7.html

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Oct 2010 09:53

India-Japan to expand strategic cooperation

On civil nuclear cooperation, India and Japan will hold the third round of talks here in November third week. While Japan is keen on some sort of Indian political commitment on moving closer to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty regime, India has pointed out that its civil nuclear agreement with Japan cannot be materially different from the agreements signed with other countries.

The third round in Tokyo next month will therefore look at suitable wording which will bring solace to the Japanese while India conceded nothing more than what it had held since 1998 or what it has so far signed with other countries. Hopefully, there will be closure next month. The Japanese people should be happy that their Government stood firm on a sensitive issue. Insha Allah, all’s well that ends well.

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 26 Oct 2010 11:52

SureshP wrote:
ANALYSIS
Uncertainty over tests stymies India nuclear pact

By MAYA KANEKO
....
....
Kumao Kaneko, a former diplomat who served as the first chief of the Foreign Ministry's nuclear energy division, said Japan should lend a helping hand to India because the South Asian country craves atomic power to meet growing domestic energy demands. India plans to build 20 new nuclear power plants by 2020.

"Without Japan's technology, new nuclear power generation projects in India would not start," Kaneko said. "Refusing to offer support to India when it really needs it could ruin Japan's credibility as a friend of India. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed."
....
....
However, General Electric Co. of the United States and Areva SA of France cannot proceed with their projects to build reactors in India because they need reactor vessels made by Japan Steel Works Ltd., which accounts for nearly 80 percent of global supplies of forged nuclear reactor parts.

Therefore, Washington and Paris have urged Tokyo to sign the civilian nuclear pact with New Delhi so they can use Japanese technology.
....
....
Even if Japan declines nuclear cooperation with India, more suppliers will surface in the future, he said.

"In that case, there will be global supply chains without Japanese makers and our nuclear power industry will be put in a disadvantageous position," the official said.

A Foreign Ministry official, who declined to be named, also said Japan will be able to seek tighter regulation of India's nuclear program through a bilateral nuclear pact.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 026a7.html

Contradictory statements over here, I have highlighted in Bold. There are alternatives to Japan. South Korean companies come to ones mind. So we need not loose sleep if we do not get the nuclear pact with japan. Our plans will get off the ground. Further we will have to guard against the tendency of the Japanese to "seek tighter regulation". Basically we should be telling the Japanese, "this deal is in your interest, please take it."

jiteshn · Post by **jiteshn** » 26 Oct 2010 12:13

Looks like MMS went in knowing well that the deal was impossible. After all, japan is the only country that suffered a nuclear casualty. We need to encourage indian firms to invest in manufacturing nuclear components at home.

Lalmohan · Post by **Lalmohan** » 26 Oct 2010 12:24

how much of this is due to japanese domestic compulsions, and also haath of unkil? i am sure that japanese industry will want a piece of the action

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Oct 2010 14:56

Lalmohan wrote:how much of this is due to japanese domestic compulsions, and also haath of unkil? i am sure that japanese industry will want a piece of the action

Lalmohan, I believe that most of it is due to domestic compulsions. There will certainly be the haath of the US, no doubt, because they want to tighten the screws on us as much as possible. It is a shot in the dark for the US; if India succumbs, well and good; one more turn of the screws; otherwise, it is a delay in the American project, which anyway is delayed by the Nuclear Liability Bill etc. The projects will not be lost because there is a guarantee from a grateful GoI.

I therefore believe that it is a passing cloud about to disappear.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 26 Oct 2010 15:22

Man Mohan Singh concludes Japan Visit

The two sides also decided to establish a ministerial level Economic Dialogue between India and Japan to give strategic and long—term policy orientation to their bilateral engagement.

The proposal was mooted by Japan, which already has such a Dialogue with China.

During the visit, Dr. Singh and Mr. Kan affirmed that cooperation in nuclear sector “will open up new opportunities for further developing the India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership.”

The two leaders also “encouraged” their negotiators to arrive at a mutually-satisfactory agreement for civil nuclear cooperation at an early date.”

That highlighted part above looks quite positive.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 26 Oct 2010 22:33

A naive question, dont Russians makes the Japanese kind of large vessels for their own Nuke plants and how hard it can be technically to do some Jugad and make them efficient and compatiable with Western tech ? Most probably, India is the onlee country which is exposed to both Western and Russian tech and can possibly achieve such kind of amalgamism.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Oct 2010 22:40

Cristopher, There is no contradiction. India wants Japan to help her in the civilian power reactor sector. The former diplomat is telling Japan that they should support India for their own interests as alternates will emerge.

Prem, Alternates exist but its in India's interest to have Japanese particpate in the power sector.

SureshP · Post by **SureshP** » 29 Oct 2010 04:50

Land of the setting sun

1 Comment

Japan isn’t in the best of shape, but at least no one has lost their traditional bashful politeness. In Tokyo for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s potentially path-breaking state visit to Japan, I was trying hard to put together a list of the recent prime ministers of Japan.Not easy. Did Fukuda come before Abe? Was there someone in-between Mori and Koizumi?

So I asked two Japanese standing around in my hotel. They both whipped out pieces of paper and began writing the names down. They came up with different lists. Turning slightly pink in the face, they began whispering with each other.

“Too many prime ministers,” one said. They ran off to find help. That led to three Japanese discussing who followed whom. A techie solved the problem by turning to Google. A list was produced and consensus reached. I got my list. The techie added, “I hate Fukuda. So sorry.”

Tower of power

The media team made an obligatory stop at the Tokyo Tower. I’d been there before. But a local Indian businessman told me the tower was going to be pulled down in the next few years. Local residents complained the tourists it attracted were too noisy.

I felt a twinge. Japan blazed a trail of modernization for all of East and Southeast Asia. It built the Tower in 1958, it built a high-speed train in the early 1960s, staged an Olympics soon after, and became an automobile-making superpower. South Korea to Malaysia, Vietnam to China – they’ve all tried to mimic those milestones as much as possible.

But now Japan is ageing. Its trains can’t go any faster because of noise pollution limits. Toyota is having a recall every quarter. And now it’s pulling down the Tokyo Tower because old people want some peace. No obvious sign Japan is replacing this with any new totems of accomplishment. Asia’s great trailblazer is fading into a setting sun. Or is it?

Little bit of India

The Indian Foreign Ministry gave us a dinner-cum-river boat cruise on the Sumida river on the last night in Tokyo. The Indian food served wasn’t anything to write about, but the surprise was four young Japanese dancers who did enthusiastic Bollywood dances for us.

Vikas Swaroop, a minor celebrity pretty much everywhere he goes because of his authorship of Slumdog Millionaire, is the Indian consul-general of Osaka. Even on the river boat, Japanese journalists politely asked for an interview and were equally politely turned down. But he said that India was a growing craze in Osaka.

“I can’t find enough bharat natyam dance teachers in the city to match the demand from middle-class Japanese families,” he said. I was assured you could find Japanese dancing pretty much every form of Indian classical dance: Manipuri, Odissi et al.

More peculiar was the demand among Japanese to get their kids into Indian schools in Tokyo. A Japanese official, who lived an an area with such a school because of a concentration of Indian infotech firms, said this was driven by a desire to know English and “Indian style mathematics.” The latter it seems reflects a widespread belief in East Asia that Indians are whizzes in math. The only evidence: IIndian students study the 14 times table.

China on the mind

When it comes to foreign policy, the only topic in Tokyo is China. Japan”s establishment has been severey shaken by the recent island clashes between ships of both countires.

“That incident was not an accident. Fishing ships don’t charge gunships,” said a Japanese diplomat.

The English editions of Japanese newspapers for the two days in Tokyo were all about China: anti-Japanese riots across China; Chinese leaders warning Japan about the boat business; Japanese scholars discussing how to handle China.

Manmohan Singh got the most coverage when the Indo-Japanese joint statement spoke of India providing rare earths to Japan. Rare earths are crucial to Japanese industry and China has banned rare earth exports to Japan. Polls showed 80 per cent plus Japanese now distrusted the Chinese. And every arbitrary Japanese we asked: Have you been worried about what China is saying responded with “Of course.”

http://blogs.hindustantimes.com/foreign ... tting-sun/

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 30 Oct 2010 03:51

Well, this partnership between India and Japan is inevitable. Because both nations have issues with China. So it is inevitable there will be intelligence sharing and increase in trade cooperation. Japan is keen to get rid of reliance on China, India is the next best alternative for them.

Lets think strategically. I think world over the strategywallah's know that China's time is limited, perhaps even in the regional context, they may start a decline in 2 years time. Word on the street is that Tokyo is bearish on China (based on some research data that was told to MMS), even more bearish than MMS. Japanese are hedging bets deeply with the US (they continue to believe that China is no match for the military power of the US).

Debka says there are plans to create a new bloc between Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia. This will be hinged on Indian and Japanese military power, which will outpower/maneuver chinese influence. They both agree that US and World economy will pick up after a few years. US's influence will come back in a few years, is what they are saying.

krisna · Post by **krisna** » 01 Nov 2010 18:06

India japan must deepen security ties

The following editorial appeared in the Yomiuri Shimbun on Tuesday, October 26.
India, a major power in South Asia, is not only a promising market with a fast-developing economy but also is a country that shares concerns with Japan over China's military expansion.
Tokyo should strategically enhance its partnership with India in both economic and security fields.

But the aftermath of a Chinese fishing vessel's collision with Japan Coast Guard patrol boats off the Senkaku Islands in September has revealed that China, under the single-party regime of the Chinese Communist Party, does not hesitate to use high-handed diplomatic measures over economic and personnel exchanges to push its political demands.

How India can help Japan--

1) By contrast, India is a democratic country and shares similar values with Japan, such as the rule of law. 2) It does not present the political risks that China does. 3) Besides, India has a population of 1.2 billion, the second-largest after China, and maintains a high economic growth rate of 9 percent annually.4) Enhancement of Japan's economic partnership with India will alleviate the nation's economic dependence on China. 5) Japan will help India increase production of rare earths, which are indispensable in manufacturing many high-tech products. India's output of rare earths is far behind China's but is still the second-largest in the world.

Security cooperation between the two countries is significant, too. Japan faces a direct threat from China's maritime expansion in the East China Sea, while India is exposed to a similar threat in the Indian Ocean.
Japan and India should actively utilize vice-ministerial talks between their foreign and defense ministries, which were established at the end of last year, to discuss common strategy regarding China, such as measures to ensure the safety of sea lanes.
The two countries also need to seek partnerships with the United States, and then with the Southeast Asian countries that stand at the forefront of friction with China. To realize this goal, Japan and India, regional powers in Asia, must further deepen bilateral relations.

?? Ring of steel surrounding the panda!!

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 01 Nov 2010 23:20

Japan data fuel fear of return to recession
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/848bf2e4-e51f ... abdc0.html

Concerns are growing that Japan might slip back into recession as industrial activity declines in the face of softening demand from overseas markets and a rising yen.
Data underscoring the fragility of the economy’s recovery from its sharpest postwar downturn could force the government to consider issuing more debt to fund a stimulative supplementary budget submitted to the Diet last week.
asset purchase plan, which critics say is likely to be dwarfed by a more aggressive bout of such quantitative easing expected this week from the US Federal Reserve.Japan’s industrial production fell a worse than expected 1.9 per cent month-on-month in September, the fourth such decline in a row and the sharpest contraction since the depths of the global financial crisis in February 2009.

( Nippon need to participate in Indian economy to save themselves, How long can they hold as Chinese have smelled the human blood and its Japaneese)

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 15 Nov 2010 12:35

Japan ramps up nuke talks with India

With Seoul upstaging Tokyo in concluding a civil nuclear pact with New Delhi and the US announcing the easing of high-tech exports, Japan is set to quicken the pace by holding the third round of negotiations for a civil nuclear pact with India later this month.

The third round of talks will be held in Tokyo after Nov 20, a senior official who did not wish to be named, told IANS.

The Indian delegation will be led by Gautam Bambawale, joint secretary (East Asia) in the external affairs ministry, and will include senior officials of the department of atomic energy. They will hold talks with the Japanese team led by Mitsuru Kitano, Deputy Director General, Southeast and Southwest Asian Affairs Department, in the foreign office.

The two sides have exchanged draft texts and are making progress on bridging differences, said the sources.

Japan has urged India to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and has made it clear that in case of a pact, a nuclear test by India would lead to the termination of civil nuclear cooperation.

Japan has decided to speed up nuclear negotiations with India as it does not want to be upstaged by Seoul, a regional rival, which has not only concluded a bilateral civil nuclear pact with India but also signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with the country. New Delhi and Tokyo are expected to ink a similar pact in January 2011.

A complex web of factors is driving Tokyo, which never missed a chance to criticise India's 1998 nuclear tests, to seek nuclear rapprochement with New Delhi.

Japan has closely followed US President Barack Obama's visit to India and noted his announcement that the US would ease high-tech exports to India and push for India's full membership of elite non-proliferation clubs like the NSG, MTCR, the Australian Group and the Wassenaar arrangement.

Tokyo, an ally of Washington, also took note of Obama's declaration of support for New Delhi's candidature for an expanded UN Security Council.

Above all, Japan finds itself on the same page with the US in sharing its concerns about Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. In this context, Obama's support for a bigger role for India in crafting the East Asian architecture was not missed on regional players, including Japan.

Besides strategic reasons, Japan, a leader in civil nuclear technology that depends on nuclear electricity for over 40 per cent of its energy needs, does not want to sacrifice business opportunities in the growing nuclear pie in India, a potential $150 billion market.

RamaT · Post by **RamaT** » 15 Nov 2010 13:41

A bit of wishful thinking, but getting beyond Nuclear the dream project that I would love to see is India and Japan collaborating on a fifth generation fighter similar to how we are working with the Russians.

A merger of the AMCA program(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_M ... t_Aircraft) and the ATD-X(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_ATD-X http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/asian ... gy-de.html) would be a win-win for both countries.

India would get access to technology and design expertise while Japan would get economies of scale so they could operationalize their project quicker than the projected 10 years and also get a deep security relationship with India which hedges against China.

Any chance this happens after the re-assessment of the 'three principles' in december? I put the odds at 0.1%, and maybe I'm being too optimistic.

RamaT · Post by **RamaT** » 15 Nov 2010 15:21

CEPA done.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed ... 17850.aspx

They said the CEPA will be truly comprehensive by including fields that range from Trade in Goods, Investment, Trade in Services, and Movement of Natural Persons to Intellectual Property, Competition, Improvement of the Business Environment, Bilateral Cooperation and so forth.

"We also expressed our determination to put the India-Japan CEPA into effect soon after its signing and the completion of necessary procedures in each country," the declaration said.

The Joint Declaration said the India-Japan CEPA will elevate the Strategic and Global Partnership between India and Japan to a new level.

"The India-Japan CEPA will develop areas of potential mutual complementarity, further strengthen the bilateral economic relationship, and promote economic development by increasing the cross-border flows of goods, persons, investment and services," it said.

The agreement will also strengthen the foundation for the economic development of India and Japan through closer cooperation between the two countries in various fields.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 15 Nov 2010 15:43

The Bangalore-Chennai corridor will become a reality soon.

Christopher Sidor · Post by **Christopher Sidor** » 16 Nov 2010 12:14

RamaT wrote:A bit of wishful thinking, but getting beyond Nuclear the dream project that I would love to see is India and Japan collaborating on a fifth generation fighter similar to how we are working with the Russians.

A merger of the AMCA program(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_M ... t_Aircraft) and the ATD-X(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_ATD-X http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/asian ... gy-de.html) would be a win-win for both countries.

India would get access to technology and design expertise while Japan would get economies of scale so they could operationalize their project quicker than the projected 10 years and also get a deep security relationship with India which hedges against China.

Any chance this happens after the re-assessment of the 'three principles' in december? I put the odds at 0.1%, and maybe I'm being too optimistic.

I would dearly hope that this tie-up happens. It would be a win-win situation for both of the countries. We would get a beautiful fighter. We will have to first overcome the Japanese ban on export of Weapons and Weapon-Technologies before we can fructify this fighter tie-up.

SSridhar · Post by **SSridhar** » 07 Dec 2010 12:19

Even the Areva reactors need Japanese clearance
So, it is not only Westinghouse.

Official sources said another impediment was the lack of an inter-governmental agreement with Japan, whose companies would supply some critical components to Areva.

The pressure is mounting on Japan.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 07 Dec 2010 12:35

Christopher Sidor wrote:I would dearly hope that this tie-up happens. It would be a win-win situation for both of the countries. We would get a beautiful fighter. We will have to first overcome the Japanese ban on export of Weapons and Weapon-Technologies before we can fructify this fighter tie-up.

there is no legal 'ban' on weapons export from japan. it's a part of their policy, they only need to think otherwise to start exporting.

Prem · Post by **Prem** » 17 Dec 2010 05:03

Japan is ageing faster than any country in history, with vast consequences for its economy and society. So why, asks Henry Tricks, is it doing so little to adapt? (The Economist, Nov 18th 2010)
FOR a glimpse of Japan’s future, a good place to visit is Yubari, a former mining town on the northern island of Hokkaido, which four years ago went spectacularly bust with debts of ¥36 billion ($315m). It is a quiet spot, nestled in a valley at the end of a railway line. When the coal mines were working 40 years ago, 120,000 people lived there. But the mines have long since closed, and now there are only 11,000 people left, almost half of them over 65.Japan is heading into a demographic vortex. It is the fastest-ageing society on Earth and the first big country in history to have started shrinking rapidly from natural causes. Its median age (44) and life expectancy (83) are among the highest and its birth rate (1.4 per woman) is among the lowest anywhere. In the next 40 years its population, currently 127m, is expected to fall by 38m. By 2050 four out of ten Japanese will be over 65. ( China will make its move then and evenge the Nanking)
http://brothersjuddblog.com/archives/20 ... oloni.html

Masaru · Post by **Masaru** » 19 Dec 2010 08:34

Japan Announces Defense Policy to Counter China

There seems to be some movement in the right direction on the security front after the wake up calls from the Senkaku island and N Korea artillery exchange incidents. There seems to be some nascent opportunity for cooperation in the high technology sphere particularly in imaging satellites, long range radars, EW surveillance, BMD, space exploration etc. How much of this will even be brought to discussion phase given the inertia in decision making in both Japan/India is any body's guess.

The new policy called for increasing the number of Japan’s submarines to 22 from the current 16, while reducing the number of tanks by a third to about 400. It also called for creating more mobile forces, which analysts have said could include creating new air and seaborne units that could quickly move to defend remote islands.

The guidelines also called for increasing military cooperation with the United States, Japan’s postwar protector, and other democracies in the region including South Korea, Australia and India.

In the export of weapons, a step that would make it easier for Japan to join other nations, and particularly the United States, in the joint development of expensive new weapons systems.

Japan has already joined the United States in developing new anti-missile systems. Friday’s guidelines called for deploying more Patriot interceptor missiles to shoot down ballistic missiles from North Korea, which has been developing missiles and nuclear weapons.

Masaru · Post by **Masaru** » 19 Dec 2010 08:45

Defense strategy says China's rise is a 'concern'

The new strategy emphasizes "dynamic defense capabilities" that stress mobility and rapid response by the Self-Defense Forces. It also calls for strengthening of the defense of the Nansei island chain that lies off the south of Kyushu and extends to close to Taiwan. Both are clear reflections of concerns about China's emerging military presence in the region. The disputed Senkaku Islands, which were the focus of a spat with China in September, are in the Nansei region.

Some details of the incident which forced the rethink for DPJ which started off with a sinophilic foreign policy steering away from US orbit in trying to be different from the traditional position articulated by LDP.

In April, a total of 10 Chinese naval vessels moved through waters that separate the main Okinawa island from Miyakojima island as part of a maritime military exercise that extended from the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean. A Maritime SDF destroyer monitored the exercise from a distance of 4,000 to 5,000 meters.

Ship-based helicopters on two occasions veered dangerously close to the destroyer. On one occasion, a helicopter hovered about 90 meters horizontally and at a height of 30 meters.

Gist of the new National Defense Program Guidelines

- North Korea's military movements are a major element of instability. The modernization of China's military power and strengthening of its capabilities are matters of concern for the region and the international community.

- Highly mobile forces capable of rapid deployment should be developed.

- Cold War-era weapons and personnel deployments should be phased out. Surveillance, maritime patrol, air defense and ballistic missile defense capabilities should be improved.

- Units should be deployed to outlying islands where there is now no presence.

- Defenses against cyber attacks should be strengthened

- A unit in the prime minister's office to coordinate policy among Cabinet ministers and to provide advice to the prime minister should be set up.

- Measures to avoid friction due to U.S. military bases in Japan should be introduced.

- Japan should debate how to deal with the trend toward the multinational development and production of weapons.