On the India-Japan civil nuclear deal, Hong said, “with regard to nuclear cooperation between India and Japan we always believed that on the premise of respecting nuclear non-proliferation”.
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The two Prime Ministers reiterated their help for one another’s candidature, based mostly on the firmly shared recognition that India and Japan are professional candidates for everlasting membership in an expanded Security Council.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who held talks with his Japanese counterpart and hosted him in his parliamentary constituency of Varanasi, showed little hesitation in calling Japan his country’s closest economic partner.
Similarly, while they agreed to work towards cooperation in civil-nuclear technology, they stopped short of signing an agreement, citing outstanding technical and legal differences. “It will become an engine of economic transformation in India”, said Modi in a speech.
The two countries also agreed to explore future projects on defence technology transfer, including on Japanese-made US-2 amphibian aircraft. Bilateral cooperation in areas like nuclear energy and bullet trains are just baby steps in comparison which together constitute the giant step India and Japan have taken today to counter China. Modi also thanked Abe for the “Japan-India Make-in-India Special Finance Facility” of up to 1.5 trillion yen ($12 billion approximately) to promote investments from the Asian giant, mainly in infrastructure that need long-gestation funding.
At a joint media event with Modi, Abe said Japan’s cooperation with India in the nuclear field will be limited to peaceful objectives.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laughed after signing an agreement at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Saturday.
If sealed, the nuclear pact with India will be Japan’s first with a country which has not joined the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The train service would link the Indian financial hub of Mumbai with Ahmadabad, the commercial capital of Modi’s home state, Gujarat, cutting the travel time on the 505-kilometer (315-mile) route from eight hours to two. A highlight of Indo-Japan economic partnership will be the decision to import cars from India to Japan.
They underscored the importance of worldwide law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and peaceful resolution of disputes without use or threat of use of force; freedom of navigation and overflight and unimpeded lawful commerce in global waters.
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In terms of liabilities, he said that the Japanese side was assured of the efficacy of the liability solutions that India had found earlier in the year. As the only country to ever suffer the devastation of atomic bombings, Japan has been calling for the reduction of nuclear weapons. A unique agreement was also signed for protection of military information between the two countries. In addition, Japan called on India to include a provision in the agreement that all cooperation will be suspended if any of the three conditions is violated.
