Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, at a joint press conference at the latter’s residence in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: PTI/ Vijay Kumar JoshiIndia, Japan Say New Security Ties Not Directed
Against China -- The Hindu
Against China -- The Hindu
Tokyo: On a day that saw India and Japan sign a declaration on security cooperation and assert that their partnership would be “an essential pillar for the future architecture of the region,” it was left to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to introduce a harsh dose of reality by reminding an elite gathering of Japanese and Indian businessmen that the increase in India’s bilateral trade with China in the past one year alone is more than the whole of India’s total trade with Japan.
That one statistic was not intended to minimise the importance India attaches to its “strategic and global partnership” with Japan, Indian officials said, but merely to drive home the point that India was not going to allow its ties with Tokyo to affect its relations with Beijing. Indeed, in a press conference at the residence of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday evening, Dr. Singh sought to emphasise that India’s economic relations and security cooperation with Japan would not be “at the cost of any third country, least of all China.”
Read more ....
My Comment: China is clearly looking at these developments as a counter to its new status as the regional superpower in Asia. Expect Russia to also start getting involved in the regional politics very soon.