Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe , the G -2 giants of Asia ,will set the future direction of the special strategic and global partnership between the two countries , when they meet in Gujarat .
Abe begins a two-day visit on Wednesday, during which he and Modi will hold the 12th India-Japan annual summit in Gandhinagar in Gujarat.The two leaders will review the recent progress in the multifaceted cooperation between India and Japan under the framework of their Special Strategic and Global Partnership' and will set its future direction .
Recently India-Japan ties are on an upswing in wide range of areas, including defence and security. In their recent annual defence dialogue , the two countries had agreed to collaborate closely in defence production, including on dual-use technologies.
This summit is being taking place amid rising tension in the region following the nuclear test by North Korea and growing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. Interestingly Japan took a firm stand in recent Doklam stand off along indo China border . Japan was one of the first countries to support India in this standoff.
Also this Modi-Abe meeting is being held on the back drop of recent naval exercise held between the navies of the two nations, along with the US .This was a major naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, where some of their frontline warships took part. China has watched the Malabar trilateral exercise with unease and caution as it took it as challenge to China .Both countries very well knows that they are living in a world that is becoming increasingly vulnerable and unpredictable, with outstanding issues like North Korea and because of muscle flexing by China. So India and Japan with their partnership shall provide a certainty in the region and beyond.
The Japanese PM will be the second world leader to be hosted by the Gujrat city after Chinese President Xi Jinping. Apart from discussing a host of bilateral and international issues, the two leaders will also participate in the ground-breaking ceremony (bhoomi pujan) for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Project . The ceremony will be held near Sabarmati railway station.
Besides important security and economic issues , other issues like Defence partnership, geopolitics in the Asia-Pacific region, nuclear cooperation, and the joint infrastructural projects in the region will be also discussed.
The recent closeness between India and Japan is reflected in Japan‘s openness to supply India with military technology which reflects the high level of confidence between the two countries.This new G - 2 axis is definitely taking shape to check increasing Chinese influence in the whole region .
Further to contain China's increasing influence and assertiveness a great urgency was felt by India to counter China’s OBOR i.e.One Belt, One Road, initiative. Though China is making all efforts to persuade India to join its One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. India has not agreed to be a part of this project , which aims to connect the Eurasian landmass and Indo-Pacific maritime . The project envisages the construction of road, rail and port projects through a number of countries to connect mainland China to markets in Asia and Europe.
The OBOR initiative includes a number of projects including the “flagship” China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM), New Eurasian Land Bridge, China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor, China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
India opposes OBOR because of INDIA'S sovergnity concerns , as it passes through Pakistan Occupied Kashmir . One Belt and Road Forum is a controversial economic corridor traversing through Pakistan- occupied Kashmir .Not only India opposes OBOR but to counter this , a new proposal AAGC was first mentioned in the joint declaration issued by prime ministers Modi and Shinzo Abe in November 2016. The declaration included their intention to work jointly and cooperate with other countries to promote development of industrial corridors and networks in Asia and Africa.
Recently Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the strong plea for developing an Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), with support from Japan, while addressing the annual general meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Gujarat’s capital of Gandhinagar last Tuesday, May 23.Both the Indian and Japanese governments presented a vision document for this project which is largely meant to propel growth and investment in Africa, by curtailing the ever-increasing presence of the Chinese on the continent through AAGC .
The AAGC is an attempt to create a free and open Indo-Pacific region by rediscovering ancient sea-routes and creating new sea corridors that will link the African continent with India and countries in South-Asia and South-East Asia. The project stakeholders hope the sea corridors will be of low-cost and shall have less carbon footprint as compared to a land corridor. Under the AAGC, there is a plan to connect ports in Jamnagar (Gujarat) with Djibouti in the Gulf of Eden. Similarly, ports of Mombasa and Zanzibar will be connected to ports near Madurai; Kolkata will be linked to Sittwe port in Myanmar. India is developing ports under the Sagarmala programme specifically for this purpose. Apart from developing sea corridors , the AAGC also proposes to build robust institutional, industrial and transport infrastructure in growth poles among countries in Asia and Africa.
Japan’s contribution to the project will be its state-of-the-art technology and ability to build quality infrastructure, while India will bring in its expertise of working in Africa. The private sector of both countries are expected to play big role by coming together to form joint-ventures and to take up infrastructure, power or agribusiness projects in Africa.
This visit of Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to India is expected to see the launch of the Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) . This project can be seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). India and Japan may commit about $40 billion initially to the proposed growth corridor with their partnership playing a key role in development of the corridor.
China has all reasons to worry from this new emerging G- 2 axis of two powerful giants ofAsia