The proposed 505km railway would link Mumbai with Ahmedabad, a major economic and industrial hub in Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
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Ahead of the announcement, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) was asked if China might lose because its loans were too costly.
Despite losing the contract, China still dominates trade with both nations.
Beyond that, Japan’s faith in India’s stewardship of nuclear technology is an emotional issue, it being the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
Recalling his last visit to the country, Modi said Japan committed an investment of $35 billion. Modi’s outreach to Japan has been a significant part of his government’s foreign policy and strong security ties with Tokyo are now viewed as vital by Delhi.
Japan’s deputy chief cabinet secretary, Koichi Hagiuda, insisted to reporters Saturday that cooperation under the pact – the negotiations for which have lasted five years – would come to an end in the case of India carrying out a nuclear test, Kyodo news agency reported. Beijing has, of late, repeatedly thwarted Modi’s ambitions to expand India’s regional influence, unveiling one blockbuster infrastructure project after another in and around India, thus shrinking his room for manoeuvre.
“They also supported the strengthening of global cooperation to address the challenges of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism”, it said.
They also called for eliminating terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, in disrupting terrorist networks and financing channels, and stopping cross-border movement of terrorists. India has already given land for nuclear plants to GE-Hitachi – which is an alliance between the USA and Japanese firms – and to Toshiba’s Westinghouse Electric Company.
The deal would be clinched after finalising technical details and completing internal procedures in both nations.
Speaking after the meeting, Maruti Suzuki chairman R.C. Bhargava said the company will export the Baleno at the moment. “The fact that we’ve concluded these negotiations is a very, very big step”.
The two nations also signed a pact to share classified intelligence, which is likely to be a precursor to the long pending deal to jointly produce the US-2 search and rescue amphibious military aircraft.
If realized, it could become Japan’s first military equipment transfer in decades after Abe lifted a ban on weapons sales under the country’s post-World War II pacifistic constitution. Under the nuclear deal the India will have access a new generation of nuclear power generation of nuclear reactors of over 1000 megawatt and with hi-tech safety devices.
In contrast, India and Japan were in the recent past brought closer by their aversion to the British. Today, 15 metro transit systems are in operation or under construction in India. In New Delhi, Tokyo sees a natural ally also unnerved by China’s growing belligerence across the region.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year.
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The two leaders agreed to push for more cooperation with other regional powers, saying trilateral discussions with the US and Australia contribute to a more “stable and transparent” architecture in the Indo-Pacific region. “It is a shining symbol of a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership in the cause of a peaceful and secure world”, Modi said. “Your visit, Mr. Prime Minister, is one”.
