On April 29, 2005, Japan and India allowed The “strategic orientation” of their global partnership, initially established in August 2000. Later, this partnership became a “strategic” and more “special”, reflecting the growing convergence of their diplomatic priorities. In the middle of the rise in the rise in China, this sustainable partnership served as the cornerstone of regional stability in Asia – a development considerably shaped by the late Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzo (in office 2006-2007 and again from 2012 to 2012), whose commitment to strategic engagement with India was unrivaled.
In March 2005, Abe, then interim secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan (LDP), went to New Delhi before the official trip of Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro. Bearing a letter from Koizumi, Abe met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 22. According to the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri ShimbunAbe said at the time that “the deepening of political and security dialogue with India, which has enormous potential, is crucial for the global strategy of Japan”.
ABE’s commitment with India
Although largely neglected in Japanese diplomatic history, this 2005 visit embodies ABE’s long -standing commitment with India. Unlike his visit widely rated in August 2007 – where he said a historic address – Abe had also visited India in private in 2004 with his wife, Akie. As revealed By Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, current Minister of External Affairs of India, Abe made a courtesy call on Singh, at the instigation of Jaishankar, leading to “a fundamental meeting”.
The May 1984 visit to Abe in Pakistan and India as secretary of his father, then the Minister of Foreign Farms, Abe Shintaro, who accompanied Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro, accompanied Prime Minister Nakasone Yasuhiro and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq and the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Diplomatic archives and testimonies of a former official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who wanted to remain anonymous, confirms the inclusion of ABE in the delegation – although little at the time could have predicted that this discreet participant back Decades later as chief guest of the day of the Republic of India.
The Quad Abe’s initiative, including Australia, India, Japan and the United States – As proposed in his book in July 2006, “Utsukushii kuni e(Towards a beautiful country) – and his Free and open Indo-Pacific (Féip) The vision, officially launched in August 2016, is now widely recognized. It is generally recognized as an indophilic figure, yet The history of its commitment with India remains under-explored. A renewed analysis of this dimension would illuminate key developments in Japan strategic diplomacy over the past two decades.
Strategic inclination to New Delhi
In August 2000, the Japanese Minister of the then, Mori Yoshiro, visited India repair Bilateral links, which had been stretched by the nuclear tests of May 1998 of India. Mori and his Indian counterpart, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, agreed to establish a global partnership, which Vajpayee further reconfirmed During his visit in December 2001 in Japan. However, early momentum was hampered by changing political priorities and global events.
In the early 2000s, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq posed foreign policy challenges for Tokyo. The Koizumi Administration (April 2001 to September 2006) was occupied by the question of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea – a political company Dear Abe even at a time when Japanese society was indifferent. Despite certain high -level exchanges, the Japanese outgoing Prime Minister had not visited New Delhi since August 2000.
Finally, in preparation for Koizumi’s visit to India at the end of April 2005, Abe went to New Delhi to sound India’s position on the strategic orientation of the partnership, which was then official during the visit to Koizumi. Abe also took advantage of this opportunity to discuss cooperation in the energy sectorWho was chased by Nakagawa Shoichi, then head of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and a close political ally of ABE.
In the mid -2000s, the strengthening of links with New Delhi became a shared understanding in Tokyo. However, it was Abe who, at the political level, vigorously adopted India from a strategic point of view. Before his famous 2006 book, Abe had already proposed a prototype of the quadrilateral consultation in an interview with Kasai Yoshiyuki, an influential figure in the Japanese rail sector and the longtime supporter of ABE. In this interview of July 2005Abe recognized the importance of India and called for “regular meetings of American and Asian democracies”, explicitly appointing the members of the current quad.
A few months later, in the middle of the controversy surrounding the visits from Koizumi to the Yasukuni sanctuary, Abe recommended the need Have a wider opinion in the creation of international partnerships. In this context, he underlined not only the Japanese-American alliance, but also to establish a close relationship with India. Citing India, Australia and Indonesia, he proposed United States in “regular strategic meetings with such Asian democracies”.
“Natural Allies” in Asia
One could reasonably ask why Abe prioritized India in its strategic diplomacy. As He explained laterWitness Koizumi’s difficulties with China and South Korea on historical issues, Abe has developed a state of mind that treated these two countries “of a broader perspective, the overview of the globe” and “not bound by bilateral relations”. In this approach, India – a sustainable friend from Japan and another democracy – has become a critical partner.
Abe also wanted to counter Beijing’s diplomatic maneuver. For example, shortly before Koizumi’s official visit to India, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao visited New Delhi for announce A strategic and cooperative partnership. In a column of April 15, 2005 for the evening tabloid now disappeared Yūkan FujiAbe suggested that Wen had accelerated her trip to pre -empt the Koizumi and create the misleading impression that “Japan is isolated in Asia”.
The Japan strategic pivot towards India was based on a meticulous assessment of the regional security landscape, in particular the Chine-Indjapon triangle. Behind the scenes, Abe had to understand India as a natural ally. While he also recognized the strategic value of Indonesia – trips in Jakarta before arriving in India in August 2007 and again choice Indonesia as one of her first destinations after her return in office in December 2012 – she never supplanted India in her diplomatic calculation.
By becoming Prime Minister in September 2006, Abe formalized The Japan-Indian Global Strategic Partnership during the visit of the Indian Prime Minister of India to Tokyo in December 2006. Their joint declaration called for a dialogue between “India, Japan and other countries with similar views in Asia-Pacific”, throwing the bases of The very first quadruple meeting At the administrative level, held in Manila in May 2007.
ABE’s second term (December 2012-September 2020) marked a deepening of this alignment. In September 2014, he concluded The special strategic and global partnership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, considerably improving Defense and security cooperation In the middle of growing regional tensions with China.
India as an Abe “life”
Even in opposition, Abe has remained determined to advance relations in Japan-India. In September 2011, he delivered a speech entitled “Two democracies meet at sea“At the Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA), stressing the importance of maritime cooperation. Predict the vision of the Féip, he said that” as natural allies, India and Japan must work even harder to keep our great sea open, free and safe. “
Even if he was no longer in the government, Abe, still tenacious in his political plea, explicitly described diplomacy with India as his “work of life”. His deep personal interest may have been rooted in the history of the family. His grandfather, Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, said his positive experiences during a visit to 1957 India, including interactions with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. These formative stories probably shaped Abe’s darling life work.
As he demonstrated, Abe’s “discovery of India” embodied a strategic rediscovery of India by Japan. His celebrated “Confluence of the two seas“The speech, delivered to the Indian Parliament in August 2007, captured this quarter of work. According to Abe, “Japan has undergone” the discovery of India “, which means that we have rediscovered India as a partner that shares the same values and interests …”
The strategic opening of ABE to New Delhi two decades ago laid the foundations for the Indo-Pacific Strategy that he and his team developed in stages, culminating in the official launch of the Féip in August 2016. The confluence of his two strategies – Indo-Japanese and Indo-Pacific – Regional order of wider Asia. In this regard, ABE’s strategic foresight has left a lasting imprint on Asian history.