Japan continues to focus on Northeast
Notwithstanding the cancellation of the Annual Indo-Japan Summit in Guwahati in December last year due to protests over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that had rocked Assam then, Japan is retaining its special focus on India’s north-eastern region, with Japanese ambassador Satoshi Suzuki visiting Manipur a few days ago.
Though upset with India over the recent visa curbs on Japanese nationals due to the coronavirus scare, Japan is nevertheless strengthening its financial assistance even in the Indian hinterland as part of its close bilateral ties and plans to sign on three projects for assistance to underprivileged people in Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh on Monday. However, the two countries are yet to finalise a new date for the summit this year and the ongoing coronavirus global epidemic also seems to have somewhat soured the warmth in bilateral ties to some extent.
“Japanese ambassador Satoshi Suzuki visited Imphal (Manipur) recently. Japan continues to monitor its investment plans and projects in the north-east, including in Assam and Manipur,” sources told this newspaper. It may be recalled that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had cancelled his visit to Guwahati last December for the proposed summit following the CAA violence in Guwahati.
On Monday however, Japan will sign “Grant Contracts (G/Cs), relating to three projects under the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Projects (GGP) scheme — the Project for Improvement of Medical Equipment for Maternal and Child Health Care for the Underprivileged, Ashok Vihar, Delhi, the Project for Provision of Eye Medical Equipment for the Underprivileged in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, and the Project for
Provision of Eye Medical Equipment for the Rural Underprivileged People, Noida, Uttar Pradesh”.
This is part of the financial assistance schemes for developing countries and the “total amount to be disbursed for the three projects is around 24.2 million (Japanese) Yen”.
Japan, India’s strategic partner and also China’s arch rival, had earlier begun a serious effort to strengthen linkages with India’s north-eastern states. The Japanese are wooing the north-east states with potential investment in infrastructure and are also re-visiting historical linkages that had seen the northeast being a major theatre of operations during the World War-II between the invading Japanese and resisting British Indian armies. While pushing for economic ties, the Japanese have “pledged to never repeat the devastation of war”.
The ferocious the Battle of Imphal, which was fought between Japanese army and Allied forces in 1944, is commemorated every year, with Japan emphasising reconciliation, following the devastation caused by that battle in the Second World War. The Japanese interest in India’s Northeast is also seen to be significant, given the geographic proximity between arch rival China and the Indian north-east.