Soon after arriving in New Delhi, Kishida visited Rajghat to lay a wreath at the mausoleum of Mahatma Gandhi. Besides holding bilateral talks at Hyderabad House, Modi hosted a working lunch for Kishida and his top aides.
Noriyuki Shikata, cabinet secretary for public affairs in Japan’s PMO, said Japan will look at projects to improve connectivity between the Indian and Bangladeshi economies and work on getting more Japanese companies to invest in the region. Cooperation on Myanmar is “difficult to promote” in the current situation, whereas Japan is looking at an economic partnership agreement with Bangladesh, he said.
Without directly referring to China, Kishida emphasised in his speech that Japan’s new plan is aimed at opposing use of force to unilaterally alter the status quo, defending rule of law, countering economic coercion, and creating connectivity that doesn’t rely on one country.
Kishida painted a central role for India in almost all aspects of this plan, which he referred to as “our FOIP”. He said: “‘Our FOIP’ needs to be undertaken together with various countries and stakeholders. Japan will strengthen coordination with the US, Australia, [South Korea], Canada, Europe and elsewhere. Of course, India is indispensable.”
Both in the speech and his talks with Modi, Kishida denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I reiterate that Japan strongly condemns Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and will never recognise it. Prime Minister Modi too expressed to President Putin that ‘today’s era is not of war’,” he said in his speech.
In the evening, Modi joined Kishida for a walk at Buddha Jayanti Park and a visit to the Bal Bodhi Tree.
They spoke as they walked through the park after showering flowers at the Bal Bodhi Tree, considered an offshoot of the main tree under which the Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. “One of the aspects which connects India and Japan is the teachings of Lord Buddha,” Modi tweeted. The two leaders also sampled lassi, aam panna, golgappe and chai while continuing their conversation.
Shikata said Kishida put forward his views on the Ukraine crisis in a “straight-forward” manner and said India and Japan should not condone any unilateral change of status quo anywhere, including Asia. The two leaders “concurred on the importance of maintaining and strengthening the international order based on rule of law” and on their common responsibilities in this context at the G7 and G20, Shikata said.
Kishida also acknowledged “considerable discrepancies in the attitudes across various countries towards Russia’s aggression”, and Shikata said it is essential for Japan to engage with the Global South to see “where we can find common ground”.
India and Japan’s Shared concerns over Chinese aggression and the growing Chinese footprint in the Indian and Pacific Oceans have brought the two sides on to the same strategic page, according to Rajeswari Rajagopalan of the Observer Research Foundation. “Despite their differences on some issues, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the India-Japan relationship is likely to stay the course and gain momentum, thanks to China,” she wrote in a recent piece.
Source- Hindustan Times.