Modi, Abe flag off bullet train project, ink 15 pacts
Leaders pledge greater role for both nations in AsiaPacific
GANDHINAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe launched on Thursday the project to build India’s first bullet train network and unveiled an ambitious connectivity plan between Asia and Africa, almost immediately drawing concerns from their common rival China.
Abe was in Gujarat on a twoday visit for the annual summit between the two nations, which have become increasingly close as they seek to counter China’s growing influence.
Modi and Abe signed 15 agreements, including increasing flights between their cities and collaboration in areas of defence, security, trade and civil nuclear energy. “Growing convergence between Japan and India on strategic and economic issues has capacity to stimulate the global economy,” Modi said in a press statement with Abe, who called his country’s ties with India “special, strategic and global”.
The two leaders participated in the ground-breaking ceremony for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project that is set to be completed in 2022. Slated to cost ~1,10,000 crore, trains on this network will run at peak speeds of 350 km/hr.
“This is the new India and the flight of its dreams is endless,” Modi said at the ceremony in Ahmedabad. The display of warmth between India and Japan drew a reaction from Beijing. “We advocate that regional countries should stand for dialogue without confrontation and work for partnership instead of alliance,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said.
Modi and Abe later met for the main event of the summit in Gandhinagar, where they delivered a joint statement that stressed on moving “toward a free and prosperous Indo-Pacific”. The Japanese leader pitched for India as the “factory of the world”, a direct challenge to China, which is the global manufacturing hub: “Japan in committed to Make in India. If Japan’s high-level technique mergers with India’s best human resources, India will become the factory of the world.”