There is no room for complacency in diplomacy between India and Japan, EAM S Jaishankar said
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said even as New Delhi and Tokyo are working closely in world politics, including multilateral organisations, people-to-people linkages between the two countries lag behind and it must be addressed.
 
“We work well together in world politics, including of late in the multilateral organisations. People-to-people linkages, however, lag behind and clearly need more attention,” Jaishankar said in his speech at Nikkei Forum on India-Japan Strategic Partnership in Tokyo on Friday.
 
He said he has written two books where he has flagged the relevance of India-Japan ties. In his first book ‘The India Way,’ he said he talked about the future posture of Japan as a big imponderable as “it will bring back into the global security calculus a major economy with enormous technological capabilities.”
 
Jaishankar said in this book, he has also focused on the maritime issue where a lot of changes are taking place in terms of new maritime balances. 

The EAM said in this book, he has also raised issues related to connectivity.

 “India was the first country to display strategic clarity in regard to contemporary initiatives. We publicly urged that connectivity endeavours must be collaborative, be transparent, be viable and respectful of sovereignty. Frankly speaking, most of the world wobbled in this regard at that moment. Time and experience have brought them around, but not without a cost,” Jaishankar said.  

In his second book ‘Why Bharat Matters,’ EAM Jaishankar said he has approached India-Japan relationship from the perspective of the Quad. 

With regard to the initiative, considered as the brainchild of ex-Japanese PM Sinzo Abe, he said “One question that has intrigued many observers is, why the Quad failed in 2007 but succeeded in 2017 and thereafter. The answer of course is that in 2007, none of the parties was willing to invest the necessary capital, the political capital, to make that happen.”
 
“With the possible exception of a few voices in Japan, none of them actually had a good reading of how developments in the Indo-Pacific would unfold over the next decade. In 2017, we were clearly much wiser as a result of intervening events. But even this is not a full answer in itself,” he added.
 
The EAM said Quad arrangement became both viable and sustainable because between 2008 and 2017, India’s bilateral relationship with the US, Japan and Australia changed drastically.
 
However, he said there is no room for complacency in diplomacy between India and Japan. “I would strongly caution that there is no room for complacency in diplomacy. Relationships need to be continuously tended at various levels. They also need to be constantly refreshed. There will always be new complexities but equally, fresh opportunities. This is how India and Japan should approach each other today,” Jaishankar said.