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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| Japan Seeks Closer Maritime Defence Ties with India | |
| 2015-01-18 | |
Fumio Kishida, who met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, is on his first overseas visit since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe secured a landmark victory in national elections last month. "Japan and India have been increasing cooperation in the field of maritime security... It is important to further strengthen our cooperation," Kishida said in a speech to the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi on Saturday. Both India and Japan have signaled a keenness to beef up their defense ties in recent months to counter an increasingly assertive China. The two governments are expected to discuss the possible manufacturing of U.S.-2 amphibian aircraft in India and Japan's continued participation in India-U.S. maritime exercises. The issue of China's growing might is also likely to figure when Kishida meets his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj for the eighth strategic dialogue later on Saturday, India's foreign ministry confirmed. Kishida also urged closer economic collaboration with India, a subject close to both Modi and Abe, who have been compared for their economic reform zeal. "Under Abenomics the government of Japan supports the overseas advancement of Japanese enterprises, while India has been strengthening its manufacturing industry by attracting investment under Modinomics," the Japanese foreign minister said. Prime Minister Modi, who chose Tokyo for his first bilateral visit outside South Asia in August-September, was on that trip offered public and private investment worth $35 billion over next five years by his Japanese counterpart. A Japanese foreign ministry official said the country appreciated steps taken by India's Modi government to boost the business climate after taking power in May 2014. "India continues to be the top-choice investment destination, the new government has taken some steps (but) investment climate has to be improved further," a Japanese foreign ministry official said. The official added that taxation environment in India and other issues related to promoting Japanese investments were likely to figure in discussions between Kishida and Swaraj. Both governments will also assess the progress in ongoing bilateral negotiations over nuclear energy and India's plans to introduce high speed rail networks in the country. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 To misquote that Tom Lehrer song, "The Hindus hate the Moslems, And everybody is worried about Chinese". |
| Posted by: SteveS 2015-01-18 00:44 |