Japan to support India nuclear development

Toyko will supply fuel, equipment and technology to Delhi

Japan and India signed a civilian nuclear accord on Friday, opening the door for Tokyo to supply New Delhi with fuel, equipment and technology for nuclear power production, as India looks to atomic energy to sustain its rapid economic growth.

It was the first time Japan, the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack, had concluded such a pact with a country that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“Today’s signing ... marks a historic step in our engagement to build a clean energy partnership,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a joint news conference with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

The accord stipulates that the nuclear fuel and equipment provided can only be used for peaceful purposes, and a separate document signed in parallel has a clause allowing Japan to terminate the pact if India conducts a nuclear test.

“As a sole nation to have been nuclear-bombed, we bear the responsibility for leading the international community toward the realization of a world without nuclear weapons,” Abe said in the same news conference.

“The agreement is a legal framework to ensure that India will act responsibly for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. It will also lead us to having India participate practically in the international non-proliferation regime.”

India is already in advanced negotiations to have US-based Westinghouse Electric, owned by Japan’s Toshiba Corp, build six nuclear reactors in southern India, part of New Delhi’s plan to ramp up nuclear capacity more than 10 times by 2032.

Japanese nuclear plant makers such as Toshiba and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd are desperate to expand their business overseas as the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster chilled domestic demand for new nuclear plants.

The agreement with Japan follows a similar one with the United States in 2008, which gave India access to nuclear technology after decades of isolation.

That step was seen as the first big move to build India into a regional counterweight in Asia.

On India’s infrastructure development, Abe said that construction of a high-speed railway connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad, which will be based on Japan’s “Shinkansen” bullet train technology, was scheduled to start in 2018, with commercial operation slated for 2023.

“In Japan, the era of high economic growth began when Shinkansen started its service in 1964. I hope the advent of high-speed railway will trigger fresh economic growth in India as well,” Abe said.

Modi earlier on Friday praised the “growing convergence” of views between his nation and Japan, saying strong ties would enable them to play a stabilizing role in Asia and even all the world.

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a three-day visit to Japan on Thursday, some Japanese media lauded that the trip could potentially “make history.”

Modi’s trip has drawn attention for three reasons: Japan will officially roll out an Indian Ocean-Pacific strategy that it has planned for years; the two countries have signed a civilian nuclear agreement; and both sides have hinted they would include the South China Sea Arbitration in their joint statement.

This trip should be viewed with an understanding of the changing geopolitics.

Since Philippine, Malaysian and Vietnamese leaders visited China, the once unstable situation in the South China Sea has suddenly abated. Across the Pacific, Donald Trump, who has threatened to abandon Japan, is about to become the next US president. The Asia-Pacific region is at a crossroads. That has made Shinzo Abe anxious that Japan can no longer depend on the US for its purposes.

Looking at Japan’s diplomatic policies over the past few years, the Abe administration has become more active trying to sway regional powers to encircle China.

Japan wants to use the disputes between China and India to court India to help contain China. Japan seeks to urge India to meddle in the South China Sea issue, even at the cost of changing its long-held position of reducing nuclear usage to offer special benefits of civil nuclear cooperation to India.

India is in need of acquiring nuclear and military technology from Japan and attracting more investment for its manufacturing industries and infrastructure, like high-speed railways.

On the other hand, the rise of China and the US’ troubled “pivot to Asia” have exerted more geopolitical pressure on countries in the region.

However, India is not likely to change its position according to the wishes of Japan. India takes a multilateral approach to diplomacy and pursues a status as a leading power. Japan’s plans are full of antagonism, which contradict India’s policies. Therefore India will practically assess specific cooperation with Japan case by case.

India will not become a pawn for Japan to contain China, as it wants to become a power on par with China and Japan and benefit from both sides. India will get closer to Japan but will not enter into a “brotherhood” relationship.

China and India have many problems between them, however, Sino-Indian relations are improving. National leaders frequently meet and are securing the right direction in bilateral ties. Even if India signs the “Indian Ocean-Pacific Pact,” it won’t have as much strength to contain China as Abe expects.

Lacking long-term strategies, Japan will head down another dead-end route.