China upset over India-Japan agreement on South China Sea

India and Japan inked four major agreements Saturday, including one for a bullet train that will connect Mumbai and Ahmedabad in western India.

The Indian premier spoke warmly of his friendship with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the power of their political alliance, after agreeing deals on the $15 billion high-speed train, defence technology and civil nuclear co-operation. “The Japanese company will manufacture here and export it to Japan”, he said at the India-Japan Business Leaders Forum here which he and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe addressed.

The Indian PM further said that the wide ranging collaboration between India and Japan, especially in clean energy and energy efficiency technology, would create solutions for the world at large. Mr Kawamura highlighted the “agreement on transfer of defence equipment and technology cooperation” and the “agreement on security measures for the protection of classified military information”. The United States and India have already been promoting bilateral nuclear cooperation, so the Japanese nuclear industry, which has ties with the United States, will be able to move into India if a Japan-India nuclear cooperation agreement is concluded.

Apparently, the Indian side gave assurances to Japan’s strong non-proliferation lobby to expedite the deal, the Japanese preferred to play safe and sought time for Prime Minister Abe to convince the Japanese parliament on the assurances.

The two leaders also agreed a long-mooted memorandum of understanding on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which will be signed once technical details are finalised, a spokesman for India’s foreign ministry said on Twitter.

Referring to the inking of a pact on the bullet train project, Modi said, “No less historic is the decision to introduce high speed rail on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad sector through Shinkansen, known for speed, reliability, safety”.

Asked if the closer military cooperation was aimed at China, with which Japan is involved in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, Yasuhisa Kawamura, Press Secretary of the Japanese government, denied.

In 1998, Japan imposed economic sanctions and cut off financial aid to India when New Delhi conducted five nuclear tests.

Jaishankar said Japanese side was conveyed about the various aspects of India’s nuclear liability regime. Japan is apparently looking for additional non-proliferation guarantees before it exports nuclear reactors to New Delhi, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty. The Prime Minister said it is clear that India is a land of possibilities.

According to Japan Today, Kanna Mitsuta, a member of an environmental group called Friends of the Earth Japan, said the agreement is not line with the nonproliferation efforts made by Japan. “They are justified, reasonable and lawful, targeting no country and impeding in no way the freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea”.