BackIndia, Japan ink security pact
India, Japan ink security pact
Tokyo: India and Japan on Wednesday inked a landmark security pact and pledged to bolster economic cooperation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wooing Japanese investors saying “sky is the limit".
Tokyo gave its nod for a 450 billion yen ($4.5 billion) loan for a major 1468 km-long freight corridor between New Delhi and Mumbai.
But during talks Singh had with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso, there were no encouraging signals from Tokyo on initiating nuclear commerce with New Delhi.
Singh and Aso inked the joint declaration on enhanced security cooperation between the two countries saying their ties were rooted in their similar perceptions of the evolving environment in the region and the world at large.
At a joint press conference with Aso, Singh made it clear that Indo-Japan economic partnership and security cooperation “are not at the cost of any third country, least of all China."
“I have explained on several occasions both in India as well as in China and abroad that I sincerely believe that there is no competition between India and China. The world offers enormous scope for both our countries to realise their development ambitions.
Aso also tried to downplay the ‘China factor’, saying “we do not have any assumptions as targeting a third country, including China."
Notwithstanding the NSG waiver for New Delhi, the Japanese leadership appeared non-committal on civil nuclear cooperation with India even as the two countries agreed that atomic power could play an important role as a sustainable and non-polluting source of energy in meeting the growing global demands.
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