Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Alliance of India, Japan and US can contain China' that was published in Newsband

Alliance of India, Japan and US can contain China

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s three-day visit to India, during which both sides agreed to major deals, including the introduction of Japan’s bullet train technology in India and an agreement on nuclear partnership, clearly sets the stage for elevated bilateral ties in the future. The potential of Indo-Japanese economic partnership is huge. The proposed bullet train link between Mumbai and Ahmedabad will cement economic cooperation further. The enhanced economic and energy cooperation will benefit both countries. Japan has capital and skill whereas India has huge untapped potential. What they need is a clear road map,

Japan’s tensions with China are on the rise and the United States has been “pivoting” towards Asia. The American strategy appears to be to build an alliance in Asia to contain the rise of China. Japan is Washington’s strongest ally in Asia. Both the American and Japanese establishments want India to “swing” towards their alliance. Japan has opened its doors to the world as a measure to counteract its struggling demographics. India, with the highest proportion of youth in any population in the world will naturally be its most preferred choice for deepening ties.

At the outset of Japanese PM Abe's visit to India, we have the hard, untiring diplomatic confabulation led by Ms. Sushma Swaraj and her team with a well co-ordinated backup from the PMO. Mr. Jayshankar who has recently been elevated as foreign seceratary is the Man Friday for Ms. Sushma, doing an excellent and efficient job. Japan is one of the most trusted and all weather ally of India. Very few countries like France, Canada and Israel can be viewed as India's evergreen friends in the world order. Other countries are friendly but depth in friendship changes with respect to other factors like trade, leadership, political order of their allies, geography etc. But having only few countries as all time friends serves little in India's endeavor to become an economic and political super power. We need more such friends and fortunately many have been waiting with hands up for a warm hug from India. We need more friends in the field of Science & Technology

India should play its part to secure its national interests. A country of the size and potential of India, the only true rival to China, cannot remain passive when this century is touted as Asia's Century. While non-alignment will not secure any benefits (because all the sides will ignore a non-aligned country as it happened during the 1950s), India has to play realpolitik with finessed diplomacy to enhance ourselves and meet our aspirations.