Indo- Japan Nuclear agreement draws mixed reaction Dec 12, 5:42 pm

India and Japan are now close to signing a civil nuclear cooperation agreement after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe inked an MoU on Saturday.

Though India and Japan are likely to take some more months to actually sign the nuclear agreement, the breakthrough reached during Modi-Abe meeting in New Delhi is significant, as it signalled substantial progress in the protracted negotiation for a deal, which would clear roads for bilateral cooperation in peaceful use of atomic energy.

The bullet train network will link India’s financial hub Mumbai with Ahmedabad in Modi’s home state Gujarat.

Running at speeds ranging from of 300km/h to 350km/h, the trains will cut down the travel time between the two cities from the current 7h to 2h.

“It will become an engine of economic transformation in India”.

Similarly, while they agreed to work towards cooperation in civil-nuclear technology, they stopped short of signing an agreement, citing outstanding technical and legal differences.

The joint statement released after the high level talks mentions India and Japan’s ‘global and strategic partnership working together for peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and the world.’ The term Indo-Pacific, coined by former foreign secretary Shyam Saran, refers to extension of India’s maritime interests to the Pacific and not just confined to the Indian Ocean.

Modi said his country will uphold the terms of the Japan-India nuclear pact. Domestic political compulsions were inhibiting and it took the resolve of the Abe-Modi combine to imbue the bi-lateral relationship with a definitive degree of strategic and security related content.

The nuclear and railway accord reflects Japan’s efforts in line with the Abe administration’s growth strategy, which promotes the export of infrastructure as one of its core pillars. Until recently, there have been serious doubts that Japan will seal a civil nuclear agreement with India due to the fact New Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Asked about issues relating to reprocessing, he said any solution to the issue with Japan will be in consonance with India’s long-standing policy.

Japan and India are now getting down to the details of a $35 billion package that Abe announced in September 2014, when Modi was visiting Japan.

“Today, there is a “Make In India” movement in Japan”.

“All countries have the right to make their own decisions about who they want to cooperate with”, she told reporters in Beijing, adding that China expects to cooperate on other railway projects with India in the future.

The two prime ministers also agreed to share technology, equipment and classified military information.

The two leaders stressed the “critical importance” of the sea lanes in the South China Sea for regional security, trade and commerce, and called on all states to avoid unilateral actions that could lead to tensions in the region. Japan committed funds and technology to this project. “China is a factor, its growing clout is a challenge to both India and Japan, but there is much more to our relations”.