Under the long shadow of the Ukraine war, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took aim at Russia while courting a “Global South” through a $75 billion investment and committing to a rules-based international order with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Indo-Pacific region.
Kishida kicked off his two-day visit to India with formal talks with Prime Minister Modi and delivered a speech outlining Tokyo’s plan to promote a “free and open Indo-Pacific” by helping developing countries, maritime security assistance and connectivity cooperation. The Indian Prime Minister also received his Japanese guest for a walk in the Buddha Jayanti Park.
The Japanese prime minister’s courtship of the “Global South” was ostensibly aimed at curbing China’s pervasive influence in the region through its Belt and Road Initiative. But, in his political speech in Delhi, Kishida did not directly name China. However, he explicitly referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine at least seven times during his 35-minute speech.
Japan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kishida, has been one of the countries that has criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine the most, in line with the United States and Western countries. By contrast, India has refrained from publicly criticizing Moscow and has become one of the main buyers of Russian oil since the start of the Ukraine war.
Kishida kicked off his two-day visit to India with formal talks with PM Modi and delivered a speech outlining Tokyo’s plan to promote a “free and open Indo-Pacific.”
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry reading, Kishida told Modi during their working lunch that, in the context of the Ukraine war, “unilateral changes of the status quo by force that violate international law should not be allowed under any circumstances.” anywhere in the world, including Asia”.
Modi and Kishida agree to maintain a rules-based order when chairing G7 and G20
Japan stated that both Kishida and Modi “confirmed that they share a common responsibility to maintain and strengthen the international order based on the rule of law, and shared the view that it is important to clarify this idea at the G7 and G20 meetings.”
In his political speech, Kishida made it clear that the reason for re-articulating the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) principles was the war in Ukraine.
“Russia’s aggression against Ukraine forces us to face the most fundamental challenge: to defend peace.” Several challenges related to the “global commons”, such as climate and environment, global health and cyberspace, have worsened. I will incorporate these new elements into FOIP to address peace and global commons issues. In addition, I will adopt new measures in areas such as connectivity and freedom of the seas, which have so far been the focus of FOIP,” he declared.
Japan, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kishida, has been one of the countries that has most criticized Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
The Japanese prime minister also argued that the reason for promoting FOIP at this time is due to differences in the international community over their approach to the Ukrainian war. “A characteristic of this turning point (in history) is the lack of a guiding perspective that is acceptable to all about what the international order should be. This was clearly demonstrated by the considerable discrepancies in the attitudes of various countries towards the Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
Although Kishidia did not publicly refer to China, the Japanese Foreign Ministry stated that Modi and Kishida said they would “not tolerate unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East and South China Seas.”
In his statement to the press after the talks, the Indian prime minister did not refer to either Russia or China. But he noted that “the India-Japan Special Global and Strategic Partnership is based on our shared democratic values and respect for the rule of law in the international arena.”
“Strengthening this partnership is not only important for our two countries, but also promotes peace, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. In our conversation today, we have reviewed the progress made in our bilateral relations,” he added. .
The other major issues that came up during the talks were Sri Lanka, North Korea and reforms in the UN Security Council.
Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters that the Indian Prime Minister conveyed to Kishida “co-innovation, co-design and co-creation” in the defense sector.
Two agreements were also signed on a fourth tranche of the loan for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project and cooperation in Japanese language teaching.
Article republished from The Wire as part of an agreement between both parties to share content. Link to the original article:https://thewire.in/diplomacy/in-india-on-state-visit-japanese-pm-targets-russia-courts-global-south-through-investment
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