NEW DELHI, 2 May 2005 — When Japan’s prime minister came courting India, he was ready to do whatever it took — even serenade schoolchildren.
But Junichiro Koizumi, who left New Delhi Saturday after a whirlwind visit, has not been the only leader switching on the charm for India in the past two months as the world wakes up to its growing economic and geopolitical muscle.
India has seen a parade of politicians troop through its capital, keen to strengthen ties with the nation of more than one billion people whose economy is one of the fastest-growing, at around seven percent. “India certainly seems to be the flavor of the season. It’s been about as good as it gets for India’s foreign policy — or even better,” said Indian defense analyst C. Raja Mohan.
The trip by Koizumi came just two weeks after a landmark visit by Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in which the one-time foes who fought a brief border war in 1962 agreed to settle their frontier dispute and let trade flourish. “With power equations that are changing, and its (booming) economy, India is becoming a focus of diplomatic activity,” said Kalim Bahadur, head of Central Asian Studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Analysts say Koizumi’s trip should be seen against the blossoming of relations between Beijing and New Delhi. Tokyo, contending with anti-Japanese feelings in China, is keen not to be left out of New Delhi’s orbit. “Japan could try to use India as a counter to China,” said Kamal Mitra Chenoy, professor of international relations at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Koizumi told his Indian hosts he wanted “to strongly emphasize India has Japan as a friend in Asia” as he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to sharply boost trade and create a new strategic partnership.
In China’s case, analysts say its wooing of India is being made with a keen eye on the economic potential of closer ties as well as in light of Beijing’s rivalry with the United States. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made New Delhi her first foreign destination after taking over the job, offering Washington’s help in making India a power on the world stage. Rice has said Washington “should pay closer attention to India’s role in the regional balance... India is an element in China’s calculation, and it should be in America’s, too.”
Japan, a close US ally, is also seen to be cooperating with Washington in a new drive to build closer ties with India in response to China’s growing influence. At the same time, analysts say India has moved decisively to settle many disputes with its neighbors that could have frustrated its quest to stake a claim as an Asian leader and its bid for one of the coveted seats on a proposed expanded UN Security Council.
The efforts appeared to be paying dividends when UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who visited New Delhi last week, suggested India was a strong contender for a council berth. As part of its efforts to reduce regional tensions and enhance its Security Council hopes, India also played host to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in April.
Musharraf flew in ostensibly to watch an India-Pakistan cricket match, but in reality to talk peace. After a weekend of talks, nuclear-armed India and Pakistan declared they were determined to make their peace process “irreversible” and reach a “final settlement” on Kashmir, the scenic region that sparked two of their three wars. “There’s now an attempt to think ‘out of the box’ and it makes good sense because a peaceful neighborhood helps make India a more attractive investment destination,” said Pranay Sharma, foreign affairs editor of the Calcutta Telegraph.
“It also makes sense seen from India’s desire to be on the Security Council because trying to get into the council looks silly for a country that can’t manage its own region,” Sharma said. “Countries see a role for India to counterbalance China,” said Sharma. “At the back of their minds the calculation is very much that India is the only big country here in the region with some kind of muscle that could match China.”
