Nirupama Rao’s visit to Japan
NEW DELHI: On Thursday India and Japan started an economic-strategic dialogue, an exercise that promises to have important strategic ramifications regarding balancing China. Separately, India, Japan and US will start an official trilateral dialogue on political and economic matters. These new initiatives will be announced at the end of foreign secretary Nirupama Rao’s visit to Japan starting Thursday.
Also the Foreign minister SM Krishna and defence minister AK Antony are expected to be in Japan over the next few months, which willl also see a visit by Japanese PM to India later in the year.
The MEA described Rao’s visit to Tokyo as being for “talks on bilateral, regional and global issues with vice foreign minister Kenichiro Sasae and foreign office consultations with deputy foreign minister Koro Bessho.”
The proposed economic-strategic dialogue will be based on the template that China has with the US, or the India-US strategic dialogue. It will be a meeting of the top cabinet ministers on both sides which should give a new dimension to the relations.
The economic-strategic dialogue had been a Japanese idea, proposed to India by former Japanese foreign minister Okada. Its significant that Japan insisted on the foreign secretary talks even though it has its hands full right now getting up on its feet after the double whammy of the tsunami-earthquake in March.
The issue of banning food imported from Japan is expected to be raised by the Japanese side during the talks. The only jarring note in the India-Japan bilateral relationship right now has been an advisory by the government to ban food imports from Japan fearing radioactive contamination.
