India To Sign Deal With Japan To Get Its First Bullet Train

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had held talks with top Japanese officials in Tokyo last month to finalise agenda and other details of Mr Abe’s visit in Delhi. Its future operations could be greatly hampered if, say, India and Japan were to share intelligence on the movements of Chinese ships in or around the Strait of Malacca.

Japan had offered to finance 80 per cent of the cost of the train linking financial capital Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the commercial centre of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, at an interest rate of less than 1 per cent. As for the seaplanes, they are a questionable military priority, but they represent a step towards co-operation between the two countries’ defence industries. Officials of the Japanese Embassy have been camping in the city for the past few days to take stock of preparations and security arrangements for the visit of Abe, whom Modi is likely to present with artefacts prepared by artisans of Varanasi. This week, after their fifth formal summit, they are set to visit Varanasi for a Hindu ritual at the Ganges river.

Both Abe in Japan and Modi in India lead majority governments and hence are not prone to the pulls and pressures of coalition politics.

Other trilateral configurations are also emerging with Japan, Australia and India interacting at a regional level.

In October this year, a Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel “Fuyuzuki” participated in the India-US “Malabar” exercise in Bay of Bengal. The three countries made a statement calling for freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as unimpeded lawful commerce, including in the South China Sea.

While neither Japan nor India has a claim in the dispute over the South China Sea, both see parallels with their own situation. Expressing my gratitude for the understanding and support of Prime Minister Modi to Japan’s security policies, I intend to deepen cooperation with India based on the recently established “legislation for peace and security”.

Abe’s enthusiasm for India dates back nearly a decade to when he was prime minister the first time around.

Two other possible deals would be more significant, and therefore contentious.

In addition to conducting a feasibility study to build a high speed rail track on the 2,200-km Chennai-Delhi route, an India-China consortium is also conducting a study for the 1,200-km New Delhi-Mumbai corridor.

A deal in India would follow the loss of two recent high-speed rail contracts to China that had alarmed officials in Tokyo, heightening concerns that China is eclipsing Japan as the main economic partner for key countries in Southeast Asia.

This is to note that Indian Bullet train Project is the second bullet train project won by Japan. The economies of both countries are heavily dependent on sea-based transport and the safe passage of energy resources from the Persian Gulf.

The Modi government has committed to invest $137bn in the country’s vast, but antiquated railway system over the next five years. Rather than imposing ideas, Japan takes a long view, becomes rooted in local communities, and thinks and walks forward together with the local people.

Modi and Abe enjoy an unusually close friendship that pre-dates the Indian leader’s election a year ago.