India will get its first bullet train, better rail safety, clean nuclear energy, more job opportunities, educational collaborations and information on black money hoarders as New Delhi and Tokyo cemented their ties further by signing 16 agreements spanning several sectors following the summit-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe on Saturday.
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The statement said the two Prime Ministers welcomed the agreement reached between the two governments for cooperation in peaceful uses of nuclear energy and confirmed that this agreement will be signed after the technical details are finalised including those relating to necessary internal procedures.
The article published on the day Abe arrived in India also accused Japanese Prime Minister of trying to rope in India as part of a strategy to contain China.
India needs nuclear technology to boost the energy supply to its fast-expanding economy, while keeping its carbon emissions-already the world’s fourth-largest-under control.
“That a country explicitly created a fund labelled Japan-India Make-in India Fund has its own symbolism”. The United States and India have already been promoting bilateral nuclear cooperation, so the Japanese nuclear industry, which has ties with the United States, will be able to move into India if a Japan-India nuclear cooperation agreement is concluded. India is likely to buy 30% of the required equipment from Japan.
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.
Japan today said it will ease requirements for issuing multiple-entry visas to short-term Indian travellers from January 11, days after India announced “visa on arrival” to all Japanese citizens from March 1. Without referring to China, both sides underscored the challenges India and Japan face in South China Sea, which caters to most of their oil imports and other supplies.
Highlighting China’s concerns over India’s invitation to Japan to take part in the annual Malabar naval exercises along with USA, an article in the state-run Global Times last week said the move has seriously cast a shadow to the regional security and stability. The deals are as much a success of business negotiation skills as a tacit admission of the elephant in the room when it comes to diplomatic exchanges since China is always on the mind when India and Japan meet.
India was largely excluded from worldwide trade in nuclear plant and materials for over three decades because of its position outside the comprehensive safeguards regime of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. The two sides called for all countries in the region, but what is directed chiefly at China, to avoid “unilateral action” and establish a “code of conduct” quickly. It must help a great deal that the two Prime Ministers are on the same wavelength in these matters.
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The deployment of Japanese bullet train technology on the 505km Mumbai-Ahmedabad line is expected to slash the eight-hour rail journey down to just three hours.
