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The Changing Dynamics of Japan-India Cooperation: a Case Of The Changing Dynamics of Japan-India Cooperation: A Case of ‘Rule-Based Order’ in Indo-Pacific Naresh Subba, Research Scholar Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Email: [email protected] Abstract Japan and India are the largest and the oldest democratic countries in Asia. They have maintained cordial relations since the inception of their diplomatic relation in 1952. The two countries never had any outstanding issues in their bilateral relations. However, they remained aloof during the Cold War period due to their ideological differences. In the post-cold war period, their relations with India improved with ‘Look East’ and liberalization policy, but soon faded away after the Pokhran test in 1998. Their relations normalized from the beginning of the 21st Century with formal visit made by Mori to India in 2000 to become global partners. In 2005, the two countries signed the ‘global strategic partnership’, after the Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to India. The strategic partnership has highlighted the different aspects of international order based on the principle of international law. To that end, statesman from both the countries has started to talk about new architecture of ‘rule-based order’ in Indo-Pacific. In order to achieve that goal both has started to engage in bilateral and multilateral dialogue such as the Shangri-La dialogue, G4, G20, etc. Thus, this paper will try to address the complex interdependence of Japan and India in the Indo-Pacific. Key words: Japan, India, Indo-Pacific. Introduction Japan and India are the two largest and oldest democratic countries in Asia. They have maintained cordial relations since the inception of their diplomatic relation in 1952. Both the countries share many aspects in common by virtue of being Asian nations. However, they remained aloof from each other during the Cold War period partly due to their different approach towards international politics. In the past few decades, both the countries have come closer in term of bilateral relations, thereby focusing on the various areas of cooperation. Historically, the two countries never had any outstanding issues in their bilateral relations; rather they have been supportive of each other in times of need. Since the beginning of the 21st Century, the bilateral relation has improved with the formal visit made by Mori to India in 2000 to become global partners. This visit was significant because Japan had put economic sanction against India after the second Pokhran test in 1998. Thereafter, the relation had further strengthened with the visit made by Koizumi in 2005, where the two countries had, for the first time, used the term ‘strategic’ global partnership in their bilateral relations (Choudhury, 2018). In terms of economic cooperation, the two countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of Economic Partnership Agreement and Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA/CEPA). This agreement was the outcome of the recommendation submitted by the “Report of the India-Japan Joint Study Group (IJJSG) in June 2006 (Pinto, 2006). The political relation between the two countries was further upgraded with the high level visit of dignitaries from both the countries. In 2014, Prime Minister Abe visited India for its 8th Annual Summit with his counterpart Dr. Manmohan Singh and also attended India’s Republic day parade as a chief guest at New Delhi. This visit was subsequently reciprocated by the newly- elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the same year to attend the 9th annual summit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. During this visit, the two sides had agreed for ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership,’ and also agreed to establish ‘India-Japan Investment Promotion Partnership’ (MEA, 2018). The bilateral strategic partnership also highlighted the different aspects of international order as well as regional order, based on the principle of international law. To that end, statesman from both the countries had started to talk about new architecture of ‘rule-based order’ in Indo-Pacific. In order to achieve that goal both the countries started to engage in both bilateral and multilateral dialogue. In 2006, the former Foreign Minister of Japan Taro Aso, asserted the ‘rule of law’ in his speech to give an idea of an ‘arc of freedom and prosperity’ and to stress the universal values such as “democracy, freedom, human rights, the rule of law, market economy” (Khan, 2018). Thereafter, in 2007, the Prime Minister Abe addressed the Indian Parliament while taking the idea of ‘Broader Asia’ and the ‘Confluence of Two Seas’ thereby highlighting the importance of two democratic nations at the edge of two oceans (MOFA, 2007). The main intent of this principle is to encourage the rule-based order, to have an equal participation of states in international as well as regional level. The changing power dynamics in international politics, attributed by the China’s rise and the declining US influence in Asia-Pacific has contributed to the growing partnership between the two countries. This has also shown a major concern in Japan’s foreign policy, since Japan always had bilateral issue with China on various issues (Khan, 2018). At this critical juncture, while dealing with the rule-based order, it is important to understand international regime because it sees the different aspects of international norm and rules that govern states in international realm. This could be best understood through using different theories of international regime to have a diverse view at its conceptual level. Then, it further needs to narrow down to deal with rule-based order and its issues in various domains like maritime regime to deal with the Sea lane of communication (Singh, 2017). The changing dynamic of Japan-India relations had commonly dealt with strategic cooperation at the broader level where the ‘rule-based order’ or ‘rule of law’ remain critical among other bilateral issues (MOFA, 2015). The Indo-Pacific region is inundated with various issues that require attention of the international community and needs interpretation by international law. Hence dealing with Indo-Pacific, players and interpretation of international regime becomes equally important. One such particular area is in maritime domain. There are various complexities and issues arising in the area of maritime domain, particularly in the South China Sea and East China Sea. This is mainly due to the alarming Chinese military presence in the region and the growing concerns of Japan and Southeast Asian states over it. The heavy militarization of artificial islands in the South China Sea claims by China and the ongoing problem with the sovereignty issue over these islands with Southeast Asian countries. This had impacted on the security problem of Japanese cargo ships, where 90 per cent of Japanese crude oil has to go through this water. Thus, this problem needs a serious interrogation in order to resolve the issue and for the better future of all the stakeholders in the region. In this context, both Japan and India are constantly cooperating to maintain a robust international and regional order and are engaging in different bilateral and multilateral institution to address the issue. One can observe that both the countries are engaging in many activities in international level such as the Shangri-La dialogue, G4, G20, ARF, and Malabar Exercise against the pirates in the Indian Ocean. They are making rigorous effort to maintain peace and stability in Indo- Pacific (Singh, 2017). To that end, both Japan and Southeast Asian countries sees India as stabilizing force in Indo-Pacific with its growing popularity in the international arena. The major concerned shown by the Japan, India, the US and other democratic countries argued that the high seas come under global commons and each countries has equal right to use it freely. In 2014, the then Prime Ministers of Japan, Shinzo Abe had urged the international community to adhere to the international law, while making their claims and resolving their disputes during his speech at Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore (Khan, 2015). The geographical location and the shared identity of being largest democratic countries in the Indo-Pacific, they are considered to have a greater responsibility for a peaceful growth of the region. The two countries have equal respect in the international law in order to resolve the issue, based on the consensus of the member states in a disputed area. In recent times, both Japan and India are showing the growing interest in the areas such as maritime security, climate change, nuclear cooperation, infrastructural development and environment-related problems. Among these issues the sea lane of communication (SLOC) for free and open navigation in the sea remains critical for the growing significance of energy security of Japan. Thus, Japan sees India as an important partner in order to deals with the difficult situation that has arisen in the maritime domain. The Early Development of Concept “Indo-Pacific” The early development of the “Indo-Pacific” concept can be trace back to the early 20th century. For long period Indo-Pacific concept was not popular and remain to open interpretation even though the concept was first introduced by German geopolitician Karl Haushofer in the early 20th century. In 1920, he mention the term “Indopazifisher Raum” to denote the ‘Indo-Pacific Space’ in his writing where he talked about the ancient Indian and Chinese civilization as one of the cornerstone of the development of the term. The two civilization before 18th century constitutes more than half of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Thus, the region has gained significant importance due to its vibrant economic growth during those days. In recent times, the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ was first use by the Japanese Prime Shinzo Abe during his visit to Indian Parliament in 2007. He defines the term by saying the “confluence of two seas” that reflects the geographical vision of ancient Asian understanding.
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