India and Japan Draw Closer: Risks and Rewards

India and Japan Draw Closer: Risks and Rewards

Feb 19, 2014 02:00 am | Taylor Washburn

Taylor Washburn

In a thoughtful commentary for The National Interest published on January 24 (“A Fine Balance: India, Japan and the United States”), Dhruva Jaishankar used the occasion of a New Delhi visit by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to discuss the evolving relationship between Asia’s second- and third-largest economies. Jaishankar identified strategic advantages that both could realize through security collaboration, and also emphasized the importance of Japan-India ties for the United States, arguing that “there are good enough reasons for all three countries to invest further in trilateral security cooperation,” even as each is wary of antagonizing China.
In his final paragraph, Jaishankar observes that India makes a particularly appealing partner for Japan because New Delhi broached no objection to Abe’s December 26 visit Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni shrine—a move that not only exacerbated tensions with China and further alienated should-be ally South Korea, but also elicited public “disappointment” from Washington. Even as other Asian nations were still fuming over Abe’s visit to a religious edifice that, since 1978, has enshrined the souls of fourteen men convicted of “Class A” war crimes after World War II, New Delhi was preparing to welcome Japan’s hawkish premier with open arms.
read morehttp://nationalinterest.org/commentary/india-japan-draw-closer-risks-rewards-9898