NEW DELHI, 30 April 2005 — India and Japan yesterday decided to cooperate closely to achieve their common ambition of a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, as Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi wound up talks with Indian premier aimed at building a new partnership
Both countries supported each other’s candidature for the all-powerful Security Council and agreed to take a decision on its reform before the Millennium Review Summit in September in New York this year.
Koizumi’s trip to India, the first by a Japanese prime minister in five years, came weeks after a landmark visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and is part of Tokyo’s “strategic diplomacy” to compete with Beijing.
“They reiterated their support for each other’s candidature, based on the firmly shared recognition that Japan and India are legitimate candidates for permanent membership in an expanded Security Council,” the two sides said in a joint statement.
China steadfastly opposes a permanent seat for Japan on the Security Council and thousands of people went on violent protests in China this month over school textbooks that critics say sugarcoat Japan’s wartime history.
But India and Japan said they would “strengthen their cooperation” to push to make the Security Council “more credible and more effective” and consult “like-minded” nations.
The joint statement also said both countries’ navies and coast guard ships would increase cooperation in Asian waters and would work to deepen economic and strategic ties. At the bilateral level, Japan was unabashed in courting India, seen by analysts as important in Tokyo’s “strategic diplomacy” to cope with a rising China. “Japan and India need each other as strong and prospering countries. Japan and India share strategic interests,” Koizumi said.
Analysts said the building blocks of a future strategic relationship between the two powers were being laid.
“Japan is now becoming cognizant of India’s strategic profile in the coming 10 to 15 years and wants to build a foundation for long-term strategic ties,” said Uday Bhaskar, director of the New Delhi-based Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses.
Koizumi told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that Tokyo attaches importance to its relations with both New Delhi and Beijing.
“I feel certain that relations between Japan and India will become more and more important strategically. But at the same time, it is important to have friendly Sino-Japanese ties,” a Japanese official quoted Koizumi as telling Manmohan.
In his reply, Manmohan was quoted as saying: “I want to tell you not to worry about friendly relations between Japan and India.”
Cooperation in UN and other international organizations form a crucial component of the eight-point initiative in the joint statement issued by Manmohan and Koizumi.
The two leaders expressed “satisfaction at the ongoing cooperation between India and Japan, including in the G-4 setting, to bring about the reform of the UN Security Council by expanding the membership of both permanent and non-permanent categories, to make the UN more representative, more credible and effective.”
The G-4 refers to India, Japan, Germany and Brazil — the nations widely believed to be top contenders for a permanent Security Council seat. — With input from agencies.
