By Raju Mansukhani
His latest publication analyses the roles India and Japan are playing in the larger geo-politic and geo-economic context.
There is no denying that the regional security landscape in the Indo-Pacific is in a state of flux, said Dr Rajaram Panda, a distinguished scholar specializing in Japan, Northeast Asia and Indo-Pacific for over four decades.
“Several state and non-state actors continue to threaten peace and stability in the region. Certain countries have attempted to implement unilateral policies with little respect for global rules, which are unacceptable for law-abiding nations. In particular, China’s unilateralism on regional issues such as the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely, has irked other claimants,” he explained in his latest publication titled ‘India and Japan – Past, Present and Future’. The book is the outcome of a two-year fellowship at the Prime Minister Memorial Museum and Library, (formerly Nehru Memorial Museum and Library) New Delhi.
“Look at it, when the Philippines went to the International Court for arbitration and obtained a verdict in its favour in July 2016, China rejected it outright, knowing well that the Court lacked the enforcing power of its judgment,” Dr Panda explained, adding, “Besides its sustained military militarization, its muscle-flexing behaviour creates a sense of unease in the rest of Asia. While it has territorial disputes with Japan over the Senkaku islands, China has a festering boundary dispute with India that shows no signs of early resolution.”
Through the book’s chapters, Dr Panda takes us to the legacy that Prime Minister Abe Left Behind; how India and Japan have sculpted a new economic partnership; the Indian diaspora and the case of Indians in Japan is a fascinating, dramatic chapter where the reader comes face to face with Swami Vivekananda, Gurudev Tagore, Rash Behari Bose, Vivesvaraya, Syed Ross Masud, JRD Tata and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, making history in their lifetimes through their Japan connection. While India-Japan Partnership and Northeast India is a detailed documentation of the two countries’ diplomatic and economic history, it is the ‘defence and strategic engagement’ chapter which analyses the roles India and Japan are playing in the larger Indo-Pacific context.
“Following a preliminary examination of the nature of relationships between India and Japan during the post-War years, and how they evolved during the Congress and later the UPA governments,” said Dr Panda, “I wanted to conduct a micro-analysis to examine how India-Japan bilateral ties have strengthened under the tenures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India and Shinzo Abe in Japan, and subsequently during successive governments. In the process, I also examined what factors contributed to Abe emerging as the longest-serving prime minister of Japan after a phase of political instability when the ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost its political space until Abe resurrected it in 2012.”
Dr Panda acknowledges that after the emergence of Prime Minister Modi in India’s political firmament, the kind of bonhomie that both leaders developed has been the most remarkable development in the India-Japan relationships.
Buddhism the bridge: Undoubtedly India-Japan ties are ancient, and Buddhism played a key role in uniting Asia through religion and an ethical way of life. Dr Panda goes back to the late Prof Savitri Vishwanathan’s speech delivered in Tokyo on October 29, 2010 when the veteran professor of Delhi University was bestowed with the Japan Foundation Award.
Prof Savitri highlighted that although Japan was aware of the existence of India with the introduction of Buddhism through China in the 8th century CE, India was blissfully unaware of even the existence of a country called Japan. There were no travellers from Japan, as in the case of China. Indian priests, who reached Japan from China and were respected, did not return to India to talk about Japan. Study of Sanskrit by the Japanese helped them to evolve a simpler phonetic script, explained the former Head of Department of Chinese and Japanese Studies in Delhi University.
It is important to note that while Buddhist scriptures stimulated the Japanese curiosity about India (tenjiku) the divine land, where Buddha was born, they did not visit India. “Japanese perceptions of India were first formed through the prism of China and later, through that of the West,” underscored Prof Savitri. In the pre-modern era, and then the colonial period, there was a negative appraisal of India. Lack of honour and prestige among the ruling elites who were succumbing to foreign rule in India was the common perception of Japanese intellectuals.
If we leap-frog through the centuries, past the horrors of World War II, the book brings us to the present when bilateral ties between India and Japan have scaled to unprecedented heights. “There are identified mutual interests, both bilaterally, regionally, and internationally, all of which contribute to regional and global peace while also enhancing bilateral ties in a variety of domains,” said Dr Panda, in the chapter titled, ‘India-Japan: Defence and Strategic Engagement’.
The two countries are now focusing on and exploring how defence and security cooperation is being strengthened.
What are the main contours in the relationship? Dr Panda said, “the foremost that comes to mind is the common understanding on how the concept of Free and Open Indo-Pacific needs to be pursued. This concept has emerged as a response to China’s belligerence and assertiveness in a host of regional issues and also at bilateral level with countries in dispute, necessitating deeper strategic cooperation with allies who share common principles.”
The Quad grouping of four closest partners—the United States, India, Australia, and Japan—is the high point in the face of China aggressively promoting its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Indo-Pacific region, where all its projects are opaque. “The smaller poorer countries are drawn into the Chinese offer of liberal funding, which they cannot resist and easily fall into debt traps. This has been China’s strategy in all its BRI projects,” explained Dr Panda.
As a counter to China’s strategy, countries sharing common values and respecting global rules are expanding their own cooperation in various fields and areas. These include non-military cooperation, primarily focusing on infrastructure-funding, supply chain resilience and technological innovations. The strategic and defence cooperation between India and Japan against this background needs to be understood when India’s defence and strategic outlook has brought close ties in these domain areas with the US, Australia and other friendly countries in the Indo-Pacific region. India’s deepening of ties with South Korea and Vietnam can be cited as other examples, said Dr Panda.
Given the dramatic changes in the geostrategic and geo-economic landscape in greater Asia, China continues to disrupt the present power balance. China’s strategy is motivated by its recently acquired economic strength and significant military muscle. This makes the smaller
countries in the region uneasy as they adjust to the great power competition between the United States and China. As a result, the term Indo-Pacific has gained popularity in describing the relevant theatre.
“As Japan prepares to cope with the China challenge, it is compelled to strengthen its security ties with the US and deepen cooperation with friendly countries that share common values by building strong security networks,” observes Dr Panda, in the detailed book which admirably documents the socio-cultural, economic and diplomatic history of India and Japan.
The reviewer is a writer-researcher on history and heritage issues, a former deputy curator of Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya.
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