The Japanese Prime Minister arrived in new Delhi on Friday for a three-day diplomatic visit
New Delhi: In an attempt to solidify diplomatic relations between the two countries, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and Prime Minister Modi of India will discuss over the improvement in joint-defense efforts, wherein deals regarding arms sales are expected to be deliberated over and finalized. In the future, the Indian military will be receiving technical as well as intelligence support from their Japanese counterparts. Arriving on Friday for a 3-day visit, the Japanese PM was welcomed by PM Modi in a tweet, that appreciated his leadership.
In an iconic exercise, Modi and Abe will be performing the Ganga aarti on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, on the renowned Dasaswamedh Ghat, where they will head after a summit on Saturday; Varanasi is PM Modi’s Parliamentary Constituency. Similarly, last year, PM Shinzo Abe had accompanied PM Narendra Modi on his visit to Kyoto, when we was in Japan for a diplomatic dialogue, wherein the status of their relations had been officially moved to ‘Special strategic and Global Partnership’. After the occupation at Varanasi, the two Asian premiers will head back to the capital and hold a meeting with the president of India, Pranab Mukherjee and with a group of selective top business leaders, as a part of the Japan-India Innovation seminar.
As a part of the gargantuan defense deal that will come through in this rendez-vous, India is also likely to buy 12 Japanese US-2i amphibious aircraft for the Navy for around $1.3 billion, even as the Coast Guard requests 5 more of these—it is a deal that has been under turtle progress since 2013, but may finally come to an agreement. The US-2i is an aircraft that is capable of working in rigid circumstances and can transport at least thirty combatants to areas under emergency. Although Japan is inexperienced in selling their defense inventories because of its fifty-year-long embargo on defense exports, this will be a direct deal between governments and it will save the East-Asian nation from unnecessary competitors such as Russia and France. Moreover, India is also looking to purchase six of Japan’s Soryu-class stealth submarines. In addition, the discussion will also involve the Rs. 98,000 crore proposition to build India’s first bullet train.
While most diplomatic commentators in India and Japan are experiencing positive vibes surrounding this series of meetings, China is bothered by the intimacy between the two countries, even going as far as to see it as a way to constrict China’s progress, as said in one article in China’s Global Times publication. This is an aggravated reaction especially after Japanese warships participated in the annual Indo-US Malabar naval war-games in the Bay of Bengal, in October this year.
Source: The Times Of India
Tags: india Japan Narendra Modi Shinzo Abe
