Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

<ul class="summary-list"><li>During the first half of 2022, <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> has intensified its outreach to Pacific Island nations.</li><li>China's inroads have alarmed the US and its allies in the region, which see Beijing as going for a strategic advantage.</li></ul>In the five months since one of President Joe Biden's top advisers warned that the Pacific was likely where the US could see a "strategic surprise" from China, Beijing has stepped up its overtures to the small but important islands of the region, prompting the US and its allies to scramble in response to growing Chinese influence.Kurt Campbell, the coordinator for <keyword id="12054992" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="indo-pacific" source="Orion">Indo-Pacific</keyword> on the National Security Council, told a think-tank audience in January that such a surprise — consisting of "basing or certain kinds of agreements or arrangements" — was a top concern "over the next year or two."That concern was given form in late March with the leak of a draft "<a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaPowles/status/1506845794728837120" target="_blank" rel="noopener">security cooperation</a>" agreement between China and the <keyword id="12279524" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="solomon-islands" source="Orion">Solomon Islands</keyword>, which said the Solomons could ask China to send police and military personnel "to assist in maintaining social order" and that China could, with permission, make "ship visits" and send "relevant forces" to protect Chinese interests — potentially giving China's military a toehold in the South Pacific.<div type="image" title="China navy ship Tonga" height="1080" width="1920" msid="92499546" hostid="261" sizebytes="194614"></div>In the Solomons, the news prompted fear that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare could call on Chinese forces to repress <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/what-is-behind-unrest-solomon-islands-2021-11-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">future protests</a> against his government. Neighboring countries, including <keyword id="11897977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="australia" source="Orion">Australia</keyword>, criticized the deal as a threat to the region's governance and security. US <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3000814/pentagon-press-secretary-john-f-kirby-holds-a-press-briefing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defense</a> and <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-april-18-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diplomatic</a> officials cautioned that the deal's "broad nature" could lead to deployments of Chinese forces and "set a concerning precedent" for the region.Sogavare, who called the backlash "very insulting," said on April 20 — two days after the Biden administration announced a trip by Campbell and other officials to the region — that he had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/20/solomon-islands-china-security-agreement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed the deal</a> and done so "guided by our national interests." The final text has not been released but Sogavare and Chinese officials deny it will lead to a Chinese military base.The White House said there had been "substantial discussion" of the deal while US officials were in Honiara and that if there were moves toward a permanent military presence or "power-projection capabilities" in the Solomons the US "would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly."China has security-related agreements with Pacific island countries, largely focused on law enforcement — Australia and <keyword id="11895805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-zealand" source="Orion">New Zealand</keyword> have similar relationships — but the deal with the Solomon Islands is seen as broader in scope and as coming at a time of higher geopolitical tension.In the weeks after the Solomons deal was signed, China's outreach appear to intensify, with reports it was pursuing <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e2116b29-e58b-4fa0-8003-d28d18ddf06f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a similar deal</a> with <keyword id="14304181" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="kiribati" source="Orion">Kiribati</keyword> and its proposal of a sweeping deal with 10 Pacific countries: the Solomons, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Niue, and the Federated States of Micronesia.<div type="image" title="China Wang Yi Fiji Pacific Islands meeting" height="1078" width="2000" msid="92499547" hostid="261" sizebytes="146520"></div>A <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-china-seeks-pacific-islands-policing-security-cooperation-document-2022-05-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">draft of the proposal</a> was circulated prior to a trip to the region by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in late May. It <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wang-yi-beijing-china-new-zealand-96f78c97071116055ebc3e7c216a0ef8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> to "strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of traditional and non traditional security," to expand law-enforcement cooperation, and to cooperate on cyber security and smart technology.Leaders were wary before and after discussing their meetings with Wang.In <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22037013/letter-from-h-e-david-w-panuelo-to-pacific-island-leaders-may-20-2022-signed.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a May 20 letter</a> to 21 regional leaders, Micronesian President David Panuelo called it "the single-most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes" and "demonstrative of China's intention to shift Pacific allegiances in their direction.""The Pacific needs genuine partners, not superpowers that are super-focussed on power," Fiji President Frank Bainimarama <a href="https://twitter.com/FijiPM/status/1531180835356803072" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on May 30, adding that after an "excellent meeting" with Wang, Fiji sought "stronger Chinese commitment" to trade and environmental issues.The countries ultimately <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-30/pacific-nations-shelve-region-wide-china-deal/101109614" target="_blank" rel="noopener">didn't support</a> China's proposal. The US has cast that as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-asia-united-states-china-bangkok-de635c39e75c3b9f7603cff696421db0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reluctance</a> to engage with Beijing, but Wang <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/timor-leste-signs-four-cooperation-agreements-with-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> other bilateral deals while in the region, and countries there with a strong interest in development assistance <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/samoa-pm-says-pacific-can-deal-with-own-security-issues-2022-06-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">still see</a> economic opportunity in China.Leaders appeared "miffed" by Beijing's "abrupt" presentation of a pre-written agreement rather than discussing it first, said Charles Dunst, an expert on Asia at the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Studies. Opposition to this specific pact doesn't indicate "a wholesale or final rejection of cooperation with China," Dunst told Insider.<h2>Huge challenges and strategic importance</h2><div type="image" title="Solomon Islands map" height="1270" width="2158" msid="92499548" hostid="261" sizebytes="45104"></div>China's Pacific outreach is a years-long effort to build relations and influence in the region, filling a "strategic vacuum" created by "benign neglect" of longstanding security and economic ties by the US, Australia, and New Zealand, Anna Powles, an expert on Pacific security issues at New Zealand's Massey University, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-presence-in-pacific-means-for-taiwan-expert-explains-what-2019-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Insider in October 2019</a>.As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/defense-officials-worried-about-chinese-military-presence-in-latin-america-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in other regions</a>, China seeks access to natural resources, trade, and infrastructure projects, such as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-pacific-island-turns-australia-undersea-cable-after-spurning-china-2021-06-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internet cables</a> and ports and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-plans-to-upgrade-an-airstrip-strategically-located-in-kiribati-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">airfields</a>.China has also sought to expand its diplomatic ties to further isolate Taiwan — in September 2019, both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taiwan-loses-biggest-pacific-ally-as-solomons-embraces-china-2019-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Solomons</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-sees-kiribati-ties-soon-no-word-on-space-tracking-station-2019-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kiribati</a> formally recognized Beijing — and to bolster its support in international forums.China also sees strategic value in the <keyword id="14304180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pacific-islands" source="Orion">Pacific islands</keyword> as "<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-china-want-in-the-pacific-diplomatic-allies-and-strategic-footholds-184147" target="_blank" rel="noopener">footholds</a>" or "<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e2116b29-e58b-4fa0-8003-d28d18ddf06f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">perches</a>" from which to counter the US militarily. In 2018, Australian officials said Beijing had discussed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-vanuatu-military-post-worrying-australia-us-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">establishing a military presence with Vanuatu</a>, and there is concern about the military implications of other Chinese projects, including in <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/chinese-built-airport-next-door-australia-us-funded-navy-port" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Papua New Guinea</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-plans-to-upgrade-an-airstrip-strategically-located-in-kiribati-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kiribati</a>.<div type="image" title="China Wang Yi Kiribati Taneti Maamau handshake Beijing" height="1333" width="2000" msid="92499549" hostid="261" sizebytes="95110"></div>The dynamic mirrors the Allied island-hopping campaign of World War II, which sought to roll back the Empire of Japan by recapturing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/growing-chinese-influence-in-guadalcanal-worrying-the-us-and-australia-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategically located Pacific islands</a>. The historical link was underscored in early May, when the US State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/commemorating-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-coral-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commemorated</a> the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/battle-of-the-coral-sea-world-war-ii-anniversary-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a clash in the waters</a> between Australia and the Solomons that is seen as a turning point in the war."We've certainly seen sources that show that China is really interested in thinking about the Japanese approach to challenging US dominance of the Pacific," Anne-Marie Brady, a professor and expert in Chinese foreign policy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said at <a href="https://www.hoover.org/events/us-needs-step-pacific-facing-chinas-military-challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Hoover Institution</a> event in May.Brady said that China's economic growth and military investment since the 1990s have given it the ability to begin countering the US military in the <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-islands-still-matter-asia-15121" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pacific island chains</a>, long been seen as defensive lines against the Soviets and now the Chinese.New Zealand said in 2021 that a Chinese base "in the Pacific would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region," Brady said at the May event.Australia's chief of joint operations, Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton, <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/peter-dutton/transcripts/press-conference-abigail-bradshaw-csc-head-acsc-and-lieutenant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in March that Chinese navy operations in the Solomons would "change the calculus" and prompt Australia's military to change its day-to-day operations, patrolling patterns, and maritime awareness activities.<div type="image" title="Australia HMAS Canberra soldiers Chinook Tonga" height="1344" width="2000" msid="92499550" hostid="261" sizebytes="153450"></div>In addition to providing better awareness of activity in the region, a more consistent Chinese military presence in the Solomons is "bound to have a political effect on the thinking of leaders in those island areas about the importance of maintaining good relations with China," Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, told Insider in April.The US and its allies have mounted a flurry of efforts to counter China's inroads. The US said in February that it would <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-planning-open-embassy-solomon-islands-official-2022-02-12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reopen its embassy</a> in the Solomons, which was closed in the 1990s. Australia's foreign minister has made multiple trips to the region in since taking office in June.US military leaders have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pacific-islands-are-critical-geostrategic-ground-top-commander-says-2021-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly underscored</a> the importance of the Pacific Islands to their operations, particularly has they try to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-studying-different-austere-bases-to-fight-in-pacific-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disperse their forces</a> to counter the growing reach of China's arsenal. The US has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-counter-china-influence-us-names-envoy-lead-pacific-island-talks-2022-03-22/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stepped up</a> efforts to renegotiate the Compacts of Free Association, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-looks-to-pacific-islands-for-presence-amid-china-competition-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its unique defense agreements with Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands</a> that expire in 2023 and 2024, holding an in-person <a href="https://twitter.com/CleoPaskal/status/1537591557037010945" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meeting</a> with the Marshall Islands in mid-June.Time and distance has kept the US Navy from maintaining a significant presence among the Pacific Islands but it is looking to strengthen and expand its ties there, with a particular eye toward logistics support, according to Vice Adm. William Merz, who commanded the Japan-based 7th Fleet from 2019 to 2021."The rising tensions, especially in that region, has certainly created a whole new level of enthusiasm for more and more players to participate with the US, and we're trying to take advantage of that," Merz said at a defense industry conference in February 2022.<div type="image" title="US sailors Tinian harbor" height="1333" width="2000" msid="92499552" hostid="261" sizebytes="392498"></div>US commanders say Pacific islanders are interested in greater collaboration, in part out of concern about China, but the region's leaders also stress a desire to avoid conflict and to focus on pressing issues, specifically the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/76-years-after-wwii-battle-tarawa-marines-still-being-identified-2019-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">existential threat of climate change</a>."In Fiji, we are not threatened by geopolitical competition," Fiji's defense minister said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June. "In our Blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, grey ships, and green battalions are not our primary security concern. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change."The US appears to be taking "tangible steps" in the region, Dunst said in early June, pointing to a need for more non-military engagement, better alignment with Australia and New Zealand, and to make clear the US's long-term interest in the region outside the context of US-China competition.On June 24, the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Japan <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/24/statement-by-australia-japan-new-zealand-the-united-kingdom-and-the-united-states-on-the-establishment-of-the-partners-in-the-blue-pacific-pbp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the Partners in the Blue Pacific initiative to support the region "according to principles of Pacific regionalism, sovereignty, transparency, accountability, and most of all, led and guided by the Pacific Islands."In a speech prior to the announcement, Kurt Campbell underscored the US's historical ties to the Pacific and stressed the importance engaging with and supporting those countries and their region, vowing more high-level US outreach and delivery of "public goods.""There is a general recognition that this is a region of not only moral responsibility and huge challenges — environmental and the like — but it's of strategic importance," Campbell said. "I think it will be important for us to demonstrate that as we go forward."

The US and its allies are scrambling to respond to China's intensifying moves in the heart of the Pacific

<ul class="summary-list"><li>During the first half of 2022, <keyword id="11892748" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="china" source="Orion">China</keyword> has intensified its outreach to Pacific Island nations.</li><li>China's inroads have alarmed the US and its allies in the region, which see Beijing as going for a strategic advantage.</li></ul>In the five months since one of President Joe Biden's top advisers warned that the Pacific was likely where the US could see a "strategic surprise" from China, Beijing has stepped up its overtures to the small but important islands of the region, prompting the US and its allies to scramble in response to growing Chinese influence.Kurt Campbell, the coordinator for <keyword id="12054992" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="indo-pacific" source="Orion">Indo-Pacific</keyword> on the National Security Council, told a think-tank audience in January that such a surprise — consisting of "basing or certain kinds of agreements or arrangements" — was a top concern "over the next year or two."That concern was given form in late March with the leak of a draft "<a href="https://twitter.com/AnnaPowles/status/1506845794728837120" target="_blank" rel="noopener">security cooperation</a>" agreement between China and the <keyword id="12279524" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="solomon-islands" source="Orion">Solomon Islands</keyword>, which said the Solomons could ask China to send police and military personnel "to assist in maintaining social order" and that China could, with permission, make "ship visits" and send "relevant forces" to protect Chinese interests — potentially giving China's military a toehold in the South Pacific.<div type="image" title="China navy ship Tonga" height="1080" width="1920" msid="92501094" hostid="261" sizebytes="194614"></div>In the Solomons, the news prompted fear that Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare could call on Chinese forces to repress <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/what-is-behind-unrest-solomon-islands-2021-11-29/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">future protests</a> against his government. Neighboring countries, including <keyword id="11897977" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="australia" source="Orion">Australia</keyword>, criticized the deal as a threat to the region's governance and security. US <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3000814/pentagon-press-secretary-john-f-kirby-holds-a-press-briefing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defense</a> and <a href="https://www.state.gov/briefings/department-press-briefing-april-18-2022/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diplomatic</a> officials cautioned that the deal's "broad nature" could lead to deployments of Chinese forces and "set a concerning precedent" for the region.Sogavare, who called the backlash "very insulting," said on April 20 — two days after the Biden administration announced a trip by Campbell and other officials to the region — that he had <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/20/solomon-islands-china-security-agreement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed the deal</a> and done so "guided by our national interests." The final text has not been released but Sogavare and Chinese officials deny it will lead to a Chinese military base.The White House said there had been "substantial discussion" of the deal while US officials were in Honiara and that if there were moves toward a permanent military presence or "power-projection capabilities" in the Solomons the US "would then have significant concerns and respond accordingly."China has security-related agreements with Pacific island countries, largely focused on law enforcement — Australia and <keyword id="11895805" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-zealand" source="Orion">New Zealand</keyword> have similar relationships — but the deal with the Solomon Islands is seen as broader in scope and as coming at a time of higher geopolitical tension.In the weeks after the Solomons deal was signed, China's outreach appear to intensify, with reports it was pursuing <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e2116b29-e58b-4fa0-8003-d28d18ddf06f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a similar deal</a> with <keyword id="14304181" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="kiribati" source="Orion">Kiribati</keyword> and its proposal of a sweeping deal with 10 Pacific countries: the Solomons, Kiribati, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Cook Islands, Niue, and the Federated States of Micronesia.<div type="image" title="China Wang Yi Fiji Pacific Islands meeting" height="1078" width="2000" msid="92501096" hostid="261" sizebytes="146520"></div>A <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-china-seeks-pacific-islands-policing-security-cooperation-document-2022-05-25/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">draft of the proposal</a> was circulated prior to a trip to the region by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in late May. It <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wang-yi-beijing-china-new-zealand-96f78c97071116055ebc3e7c216a0ef8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">proposed</a> to "strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of traditional and non traditional security," to expand law-enforcement cooperation, and to cooperate on cyber security and smart technology.Leaders were wary before and after discussing their meetings with Wang.In <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/22037013/letter-from-h-e-david-w-panuelo-to-pacific-island-leaders-may-20-2022-signed.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a May 20 letter</a> to 21 regional leaders, Micronesian President David Panuelo called it "the single-most game-changing proposed agreement in the Pacific in any of our lifetimes" and "demonstrative of China's intention to shift Pacific allegiances in their direction.""The Pacific needs genuine partners, not superpowers that are super-focussed on power," Fiji President Frank Bainimarama <a href="https://twitter.com/FijiPM/status/1531180835356803072" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> on May 30, adding that after an "excellent meeting" with Wang, Fiji sought "stronger Chinese commitment" to trade and environmental issues.The countries ultimately <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-30/pacific-nations-shelve-region-wide-china-deal/101109614" target="_blank" rel="noopener">didn't support</a> China's proposal. The US has cast that as <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-asia-united-states-china-bangkok-de635c39e75c3b9f7603cff696421db0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reluctance</a> to engage with Beijing, but Wang <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/06/timor-leste-signs-four-cooperation-agreements-with-china/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> other bilateral deals while in the region, and countries there with a strong interest in development assistance <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/samoa-pm-says-pacific-can-deal-with-own-security-issues-2022-06-17/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">still see</a> economic opportunity in China.Leaders appeared "miffed" by Beijing's "abrupt" presentation of a pre-written agreement rather than discussing it first, said Charles Dunst, an expert on Asia at the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">International</keyword> Studies. Opposition to this specific pact doesn't indicate "a wholesale or final rejection of cooperation with China," Dunst told Insider.<h2>Huge challenges and strategic importance</h2><div type="image" title="Solomon Islands map" height="1270" width="2158" msid="92501098" hostid="261" sizebytes="45104"></div>China's Pacific outreach is a years-long effort to build relations and influence in the region, filling a "strategic vacuum" created by "benign neglect" of longstanding security and economic ties by the US, Australia, and New Zealand, Anna Powles, an expert on Pacific security issues at New Zealand's Massey University, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-presence-in-pacific-means-for-taiwan-expert-explains-what-2019-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Insider in October 2019</a>.As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/defense-officials-worried-about-chinese-military-presence-in-latin-america-2022-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in other regions</a>, China seeks access to natural resources, trade, and infrastructure projects, such as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-pacific-island-turns-australia-undersea-cable-after-spurning-china-2021-06-24/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">internet cables</a> and ports and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-plans-to-upgrade-an-airstrip-strategically-located-in-kiribati-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">airfields</a>.China has also sought to expand its diplomatic ties to further isolate Taiwan — in September 2019, both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/taiwan-loses-biggest-pacific-ally-as-solomons-embraces-china-2019-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Solomons</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-sees-kiribati-ties-soon-no-word-on-space-tracking-station-2019-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kiribati</a> formally recognized Beijing — and to bolster its support in international forums.China also sees strategic value in the <keyword id="14304180" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pacific-islands" source="Orion">Pacific islands</keyword> as "<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-china-want-in-the-pacific-diplomatic-allies-and-strategic-footholds-184147" target="_blank" rel="noopener">footholds</a>" or "<a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e2116b29-e58b-4fa0-8003-d28d18ddf06f" target="_blank" rel="noopener">perches</a>" from which to counter the US militarily. In 2018, Australian officials said Beijing had discussed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-vanuatu-military-post-worrying-australia-us-2018-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">establishing a military presence with Vanuatu</a>, and there is concern about the military implications of other Chinese projects, including in <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/chinese-built-airport-next-door-australia-us-funded-navy-port" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Papua New Guinea</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-plans-to-upgrade-an-airstrip-strategically-located-in-kiribati-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kiribati</a>.<div type="image" title="China Wang Yi Kiribati Taneti Maamau handshake Beijing" height="1333" width="2000" msid="92501099" hostid="261" sizebytes="95110"></div>The dynamic mirrors the Allied island-hopping campaign of World War II, which sought to roll back the Empire of Japan by recapturing <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/growing-chinese-influence-in-guadalcanal-worrying-the-us-and-australia-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategically located Pacific islands</a>. The historical link was underscored in early May, when the US State Department <a href="https://www.state.gov/commemorating-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-coral-sea/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commemorated</a> the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/battle-of-the-coral-sea-world-war-ii-anniversary-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a clash in the waters</a> between Australia and the Solomons that is seen as a turning point in the war."We've certainly seen sources that show that China is really interested in thinking about the Japanese approach to challenging US dominance of the Pacific," Anne-Marie Brady, a professor and expert in Chinese foreign policy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, said at <a href="https://www.hoover.org/events/us-needs-step-pacific-facing-chinas-military-challenge" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Hoover Institution</a> event in May.Brady said that China's economic growth and military investment since the 1990s have given it the ability to begin countering the US military in the <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-islands-still-matter-asia-15121" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pacific island chains</a>, long been seen as defensive lines against the Soviets and now the Chinese.New Zealand said in 2021 that a Chinese base "in the Pacific would fundamentally alter the strategic balance of the region," Brady said at the May event.Australia's chief of joint operations, Lt. Gen. Greg Bilton, <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/peter-dutton/transcripts/press-conference-abigail-bradshaw-csc-head-acsc-and-lieutenant" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in March that Chinese navy operations in the Solomons would "change the calculus" and prompt Australia's military to change its day-to-day operations, patrolling patterns, and maritime awareness activities.<div type="image" title="Australia HMAS Canberra soldiers Chinook Tonga" height="1344" width="2000" msid="92501101" hostid="261" sizebytes="153450"></div>In addition to providing better awareness of activity in the region, a more consistent Chinese military presence in the Solomons is "bound to have a political effect on the thinking of leaders in those island areas about the importance of maintaining good relations with China," Timothy Heath, a senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corporation, told Insider in April.The US and its allies have mounted a flurry of efforts to counter China's inroads. The US said in February that it would <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/us-planning-open-embassy-solomon-islands-official-2022-02-12/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reopen its embassy</a> in the Solomons, which was closed in the 1990s. Australia's foreign minister has made multiple trips to the region in since taking office in June.US military leaders have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pacific-islands-are-critical-geostrategic-ground-top-commander-says-2021-3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">repeatedly underscored</a> the importance of the Pacific Islands to their operations, particularly has they try to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-studying-different-austere-bases-to-fight-in-pacific-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disperse their forces</a> to counter the growing reach of China's arsenal. The US has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-counter-china-influence-us-names-envoy-lead-pacific-island-talks-2022-03-22/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stepped up</a> efforts to renegotiate the Compacts of Free Association, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-looks-to-pacific-islands-for-presence-amid-china-competition-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">its unique defense agreements with Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands</a> that expire in 2023 and 2024, holding an in-person <a href="https://twitter.com/CleoPaskal/status/1537591557037010945" target="_blank" rel="noopener">meeting</a> with the Marshall Islands in mid-June.Time and distance has kept the US Navy from maintaining a significant presence among the Pacific Islands but it is looking to strengthen and expand its ties there, with a particular eye toward logistics support, according to Vice Adm. William Merz, who commanded the Japan-based 7th Fleet from 2019 to 2021."The rising tensions, especially in that region, has certainly created a whole new level of enthusiasm for more and more players to participate with the US, and we're trying to take advantage of that," Merz said at a defense industry conference in February 2022.<div type="image" title="US sailors Tinian harbor" height="1333" width="2000" msid="92501103" hostid="261" sizebytes="392498"></div>US commanders say Pacific islanders are interested in greater collaboration, in part out of concern about China, but the region's leaders also stress a desire to avoid conflict and to focus on pressing issues, specifically the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/76-years-after-wwii-battle-tarawa-marines-still-being-identified-2019-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">existential threat of climate change</a>."In Fiji, we are not threatened by geopolitical competition," Fiji's defense minister said at the Shangri-La Dialogue in June. "In our Blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, grey ships, and green battalions are not our primary security concern. The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change."The US appears to be taking "tangible steps" in the region, Dunst said in early June, pointing to a need for more non-military engagement, better alignment with Australia and New Zealand, and to make clear the US's long-term interest in the region outside the context of US-China competition.On June 24, the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and Japan <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/24/statement-by-australia-japan-new-zealand-the-united-kingdom-and-the-united-states-on-the-establishment-of-the-partners-in-the-blue-pacific-pbp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the Partners in the Blue Pacific initiative to support the region "according to principles of Pacific regionalism, sovereignty, transparency, accountability, and most of all, led and guided by the Pacific Islands."In a speech prior to the announcement, Kurt Campbell underscored the US's historical ties to the Pacific and stressed the importance engaging with and supporting those countries and their region, vowing more high-level US outreach and delivery of "public goods.""There is a general recognition that this is a region of not only moral responsibility and huge challenges — environmental and the like — but it's of strategic importance," Campbell said. "I think it will be important for us to demonstrate that as we go forward."

<keyword id="6355311" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Japan">Japan</keyword> and <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> are taking their friendship to a different level. The two <keyword id="763249" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Democracies">democracies</keyword> share a lot in common and Japan is the pivot around which the Indian policy of ‘<keyword id="1931034" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Looking-East">Looking East</keyword>’ is built. And in China, both have a shared threat perception. 
 The fields of co-operation between the two nations are many. For one, the powerful navies of India and Japan are working closely with each other on the high seas. The aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine capacity of India complements Japan’s missile destroyer-dominated navy that has recently added a giant helicopter carrier. Japan is also helping transform India’s <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> with aid and <keyword id="6362476" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="investments">investments</keyword> on very generous terms. From the <keyword id="896717" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delhi-Mumbai-Freight-Corridor">Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor</keyword> to the possibility of bullet trains, from investment in manufacturing to intelligence sharing – <keyword id="4741" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Tokyo">Tokyo</keyword> and New Delhi are locked in a real tango. 
 Japan is looking strategically at India for some time now and enhancing its role as a reliable partner. Over the years, India has received $36 billion of Japanese assistance. In fact, India has been the largest recipient of <keyword id="1931024" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Overseas-Japanese-aid">overseas Japanese aid</keyword> since 1994. 
 Moreover, both countries face an assertive Chinese posture in territorial claims. Japan faces these on the sea while India has a land controversy. This mutual threat perception has acted as additional ‘glue’ for this bilateral relationship. Together, they have the most powerful navies in Asia. Also, both have an additional interest in expanding the permanent membership of the <keyword id="159214" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Security-Council">Security Council</keyword> at the UN. 
 
Japan has walked the friendship talk for over a generation now, first with the Maruti and now with the Metro rail. The Indian middle class got their first affordable car in Maruti, which was from the Japanese firm <keyword id="6911" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="suzuki">Suzuki</keyword>. And it transformed India’s urban outlook. Similarly, anyone who has taken a ride on the <keyword id="6366797" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delhi-Metro">Delhi Metro</keyword> knows what a radical change it is for urban commuting. Here again, a Japanese soft loan of $3 billion was helpful. Japan also provides the technical expertise, which has made smooth construction of the Metro possible. 
 
Japan is helping construct the <keyword id="67342" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delhi-Mumbai-Industrial-Corridor">Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor</keyword> (<keyword id="64010" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="DMIC">DMIC</keyword>), which is set to turbo-charge the <keyword id="6356076" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="indian-economy">Indian economy</keyword> and boost manufacturing. 
The DMIC is going to transform not just India’s creaky infrastructure but potentially the entire Indian economy. This is a mega project costing over $90 billion. Japan has provided an initial loan of $4.5 billion for this project. DMIC is a 1,483 km long dedicated freight train corridor across six states and two Union Territories. On both sides of the corridor, an area of 150-200 km will be developed as industrial townships. 
 
In sheer scale, the DMIC is awesome. It aims at doubling the employment potential in 7 years while industrial output is projected to go up three times in 9 years. Exports from the project and its periphery are likely to quadruple in 8 years. As the Japanese expertise and money are combined with Indian capabilities for this project, the key impact will be in terms of industrial townships that will be developed around the corridor. Gujarat and Rajasthan will gain the maximum as 70% of the infrastructure will be developed in these two states. But the project will really boost India’s <keyword id="6395867" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="manufacturing-sector">manufacturing sector</keyword> as it will open many possibilities along the route. 
 
Japan has also signalled that it is keen to bring its famous <keyword id="490067" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bullet-train">bullet train</keyword> to India. 
In a way, bullet trains symbolise Japan’s burgeoning ecosystem. They are also extremely expensive and require the kind of technology that India does not have. An investment of $10 billion will be required to introduce these trains here. As of now, India is looking at speeds of up to 350 km an hour while the government had admitted in the Parliament that Indian trains run on an average of 40 km/hour. The first bullet train will be connecting Mumbai and Ahmedabad, reducing the travel time to about 2.5 hours, instead of the current 6.5 hours. With both countries moving forward on this proposal, India’s outdated train system will soon get a swanky new avatar. 
 
Japan’s PM <keyword id="590894" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shinzo-Abe">Shinzo Abe</keyword> has a personal commitment to India. The Japanese <keyword id="71" type="POSITION" weightage="40" keywordseo="Prime-Minister">Prime Minister</keyword> is an old friend of India. In his book Utsukushii Kuni E (Towards a Beautiful Country), he has elaborated his vision, saying that the <keyword id="713964" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indo-Japanese-Relations">Indo-Japanese relations</keyword> could be as important as the Sino-Japanese relations. When Abe addressed the <keyword id="145182" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Indian-Parliament">Indian Parliament</keyword> way back in 2007, he termed this friendship as “…the confluence of the two seas.” He went further, saying India and Japan could be as important as Japan and the US. Thus <keyword id="1931031" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Japans-leadership">Japan’s leadership</keyword> has invested serious <keyword id="254055" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Political-Capital">political capital</keyword> in the future of its friendship with India. 
 
Japan and India are coming very close in international security relations. India and Japan are beefing up their security co-operation and coming closer in the field of defence. This is because both are faced with common threats and both nurture the common values of democracy. The countries also signed a path-breaking <keyword id="1931029" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="joint-declaration-on-security">joint declaration on security</keyword> back in 2008. The security co-operation has deepened over time and included joint exercises between the two navies on the high seas. Last year, 4 ships and 1,400 sailors from the Indian side took part in it but next year, it is set to get bigger. Japan is also entering the <keyword id="401458" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Indian-defence-market">Indian defence market</keyword> and has offered its multi-capability <keyword id="1931028" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="US-2-amphibious-aircraft">US-2 amphibious aircraft</keyword> to India. 
 
India and Japan share a lot of soft power. Japan appreciates the fact that the Indian <keyword id="18182" type="POSITION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Judge">judge</keyword>, Justice <keyword id="1931018" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Radhagobind-Pal">Radhagobind Pal</keyword>, dissented from the verdict that sentenced Japanese leaders as war criminals in the 1946 trial after Japan’s defeat in WWII. Interestingly, his was the sole dissent in this case. Both countries have a common heritage in <keyword id="30326" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Buddhism">Buddhism</keyword> and Japan has funded many Buddhist sites in India in terms of conservation and infrastructure development. On the <keyword id="4578" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="entertainment">entertainment</keyword> front, Indian kids love Japanese characters such as <keyword id="487119" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Doremon">Doremon</keyword>, <keyword id="1931035" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Shinchen">Shinchen</keyword> and <keyword id="882162" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ninja-Hattori">Ninja Hattori</keyword>, which are by far the most popular cartoons here in India. Finally, you cannot miss Japanese food at any party thrown by the Indian elite. Indians have a yen for <keyword id="62494" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="sushi">sushi</keyword>. 
 
This relationship is likely to grow. It won’t be wrong to assume that <keyword id="880872" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="India-Japan-relations">India-Japan relations</keyword> are entering a new era. For long, Japan took a cue from the US in its foreign policy. But this is changing fast and Japan is now far more assertive in its foreign affairs. The natural complements of the powerful maritime forces and a commitment to democracy are propelling the two countries on a new trajectory directly and not just via <keyword id="6354998" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="Washington">Washington</keyword>. Both counties are seeing billions of dollars of new investments and trade between them. And both have much to gain by coming strategically together as China remains a common threat to Tokyo and New Delhi. India will do well to nurture this relationship carefully.

Japan Is India’s
Best Friend In The World

The recent summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> in Vladivostok underlined the countries’ harmonious strategic orientation. In what Modi called a “unique case”, India <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3026120/india-challenging-chinas-influence-south-china-sea-outreach" class="link-text">extended</a> a US$1 billion credit line to Russia to develop its Far East, as part of India’s new “Act Far East” policy, a complement to the “<a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1689454/indias-act-east-plan-lesson-china" class="link-text">Act East</a>” policy which seeks to deepen ties with Southeast Asia. Modi and Putin also reached a preliminary agreement on the induction of skilled Indian workers into Siberia. Urging both nations to “deepen the bond”, Modi said: “India is proud of the achievement of the Indian diaspora. I am sure here in the Russian Far East too they will make an active contribution towards the region’s progress.” The Russian <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1855525/china-backs-putins-idea-developing-russias-far-east" class="link-text">Far East</a> is a federal district distinct from the Siberian federal district, stretching from Lake Baikal in eastern Siberia to the Pacific Ocean, with an area of 6.2 million sq km, or a third of Russia. Resource-rich and sparsely populated, it is viewed with muted anxiety in Moscow as an area that may be slowly taken over by China’s steady <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2100228/chinese-russian-far-east-geopolitical-time-bomb" class="link-text">demographic creep</a>. This relationship has withstood the vicissitudes of a global order, through the menacing certitude of the cold-war decades when the Soviet Union was one of two poles, to the post-September 11 uneasy world (dis)order where Russia is the inheritor of a shrunken Soviet mantle both geographically and economically. Notwithstanding disappointments in the Boris Yeltsin period, such as when the Russian president condemned India’s nuclear tests, and Russia’s discomfiture over the visible improvement in India’s relations with the United States since late 2008, both Moscow and Delhi have maintained mutual trust. If the US, Russia and China are the core global strategic players, then India and Japan are potentially important swing states. Tokyo, while committed to the US-led alliance, is seeking to improve its position with both China and Russia. To this end, Japanese prime minister <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3025905/vladimir-putin-rebuffs-shinzo-abes-call-sign-peace-treaty-over" class="link-text">Shinzo Abe</a> was also in Vladivostok recently for the Eastern Economic Forum to explore greater economic engagement in Russia’s Far East. Russia’s economy is weaker and this is borne out by the International Monetary Fund’s global list of national gross domestic product. Russia’s GDP, at an estimated US$1.649 trillion this year, is ranked 12th, against Japan’s GDP in third place and India’s GDP in fifth place. For China and Russia, there is deep political and strategic cooperation. But the stark <a href="https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009679/china-and-russia-arent-economic-equals-thanks-us-trade-war" class="link-text">economic subaltern</a> status that Moscow has to accept and the demographic imbalance in the Far East causes deep anxiety. Moscow recalls China as the junior partner during the cold-war decades, and the inversion of roles is galling.In this context, the Russia-India relationship may be characterised as one of kaleidoscopic polarity, wherein both nations have a deep foundation of strategic consonance and yet allow for a degree of issue-specific flexibility. This is reflected in an 81-paragraph joint statement issued at Vladivostok. Deep geostrategic concerns underline the relationships between Russia’s Vladimir Putin, India’s Narendra Modi and China’s <keyword id="191809" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xi-Jinping">Xi Jinping</keyword>. The three leaders meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on June 28. Photo: Reuters Thus, Russia and India can have different positions on China’s <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3007588/belt-and-road-differences-aside-china-and-india-agree-disagree" class="link-text">Belt and Road Initiative</a> to link economies into a China-centred trading network, or the US-led <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3003898/why-india-should-rethink-its-reticence-towards-quad" class="link-text">Quadrilateral Security Dialogue</a> with India, Australia and Japan. At the same time, Russia and India remain committed to “multilateralism”, underline “the primacy of international law” and emphasise “their commitment to the purposes and the principles stated in the UN Charter including the inadmissibility of interference in the internal affairs of member states”.For India, this last point is especially relevant given developments in <a href="https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3021620/kashmir-modis-india-may-have-won-battle-lost-trust" class="link-text">Kashmir</a> where Moscow’s support has been particularly welcome against China’s <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3026308/beijing-gives-pakistan-its-backing-amid-rising-kashmir" class="link-text">uncritical support</a> of Pakistan and the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3023648/donald-trump-offers-mediate-explosive-kashmir-stand" class="link-text">ambiguous</a> US position.India has its own <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/3011748/modi-20-indias-us-china-balancing-act-just-got-trickier" class="link-text">tightrope</a> to walk with China over their festering <a href="https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2127282/doklam-stand-china-will-india-learn-right-lessons-or-pay" class="link-text">territorial disputes</a> and China’s support of Pakistan, whose army <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3008614/why-china-dropped-its-opposition-un-blacklisting-pakistan" class="link-text">supports</a> anti-India jihadi terror groups and whose penchant for nuclear sabre-rattling China tacitly endorses. <h3 style="margin-bottom: 1.42857rem; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 300; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 1.71429rem; line-height: 2.35714rem; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; display: inherit;"></h3>Early next month, Modi will receive Chinese President Xi Jinping and India’s “special and privileged” relationship with Russia will be on the agenda. President Xi is likely to be keen to ascertain how the Vladivostok agreements affect China’s security concerns. Particularly as India and Russia now see themselves as “stakeholders” who have “agreed to intensify consultations on complementarities between integration and development initiatives in the greater Eurasian space and in the regions of Indian and Pacific Oceans”. Will the Indo-Pacific become more animated with Russia’s entry when the <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3026120/india-challenging-chinas-influence-south-china-sea-outreach" class="link-text">Vladivostok-Chennai</a> sea route becomes a reality?Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar is director of the Society for Policy Studies (SPS), an independent think tank based in New Delhi. (The above articles is based on personal views of C. Uday Bhaskar, Business Insider India has not edited the article).

Why India’s relationship with Russia is so special

Mumbai, Mar 20 () Domestic tractor maker Escorts and Kubota Corporation have decided to strengthen their partnership under which the Japanese tractors and machinery leader will pick a 10 per cent stake in the Delhi-based company for Rs 1,042 crore. The deal, coming at over 48 per cent premium on the current market value of Escorts, is one of the largest Indo-Japanese agriculture collaborations and will integrate technological excellence and innovation to provide latest farm mechanization solutions across the globe, the companies said. Already both the companies have a joint venture Escorts Kubota India in which the Japanese company owns 60 per cent and the rest is with Escorts. But with the new equity partnership, Escorts will also acquire 40 per cent stake in Kubota Agricultural Machinery India, the marketing and sales company of Kubota India. This is in pursuant of the preferential share allotment to the Japanese company, Escorts said in a statement. "To further deepen our existing relationship Kubota has decided to pick up 10 per cent equity stake, on a post-capital reduction basis, in Escorts to integrate and deepen their relationship towards achieving their mutual global ambitions," the Escorts statement said. On completion of the transaction, pending regulatory and shareholders' approvals, Escorts and Kubota will partner to become a leading player in India on one hand and make India a hub for product development, manufacturing and sourcing for global markets, the statement added. Under the deal, where JM Financial was the sole financial advisor, Escorts will allot 1.23 crore equity shares through a preferential issue to Kubota at Rs 850 a share. The equity sale will be from the shares held by the Escorts Benefit &amp; Welfare Trust to ensure that the total equity share capital of the company remains unchanged. Kubota's investment will constitute 9.1 per cent of the equity stake on a pre-capital reduction and 10 per cent on a post-capital reduction basis for a total investment of Rs 1,042 crore, the statement added. The price represents over 48.2 per cent premium over the last traded price on March 19. The companies expect the deal to help Escorts in innovation, indigenization of global R&amp;D, and act as a global sourcing hub for Kubota; while the Japanese company gets assured supply of cost-effective products in and for India, joint product development for global markets, and expansion of product range. Nikhil Nanda, the chairman and managing director of Escorts, said this collaboration aims at leveraging R&amp;D strengths of Kubota to offer cutting-edge products for domestic and export markets, serving customers in new markets and new product lines. "With our manufacturing expertise and strong domestic distribution combined with collaboration with Kubota, we aim to reach our objective of becoming the market leader in farm mechanization, and address the food security challenge," Nanda said. Yuichi Kitao, president of Kubota said this strategic investment is a validation of our mutual commitment to offer best in-class technology products for global markets and thereby enhance customer experience. "With this collaboration, we believe we will cater to India and other growing economies which require high-end technology and new age tractors to address growing demands of highly mechanized farming," he said. Kubota Corp is a global manufacturing company, specializing in agriculture, water, and living environment products, with a worldwide network spread over 100 countries. The Escorts counter rallied to Rs 675.20, up 17.73 per cent on the BSE against the benchmark Sensex rallying 5.75 per cent after four days of the blood bath. BEN MRMR

Japanese Kubota Corp widens JV with Escorts, picks up 10% stake for Rs 1,042 cr

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US has sought to improve its relationship with countries in Asia to counter <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>'s rising influence.</li><li><keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> has been a major target of that effort, but New Delhi's purchase of major Russian weapons may complicate the US's engagement.</li></ul>US efforts to build closer ties with India face a test later this year, when New Delhi is set to receive the <keyword id="3094666" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="S-400">S-400</keyword>, a Russian-made air-defense system that the US has already sanctioned other countries for buying.India will get its first S-400 set by the end of 2021, India's ambassador to <keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> said at the end of April, <a href="https://tass.com/defense/1284941" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Russian state media. New Delhi announced its intention to buy the S-400 in 2015 and signed a contract worth more than $5 billion for five regiment-size sets in 2018.The S-400 - which Russia says can destroy aircraft, cruise, and ballistic missiles, and hypersonic weapons - is set to arrive as India is increasingly focused on countering a Chinese military that fields sophisticated aircraft and long-range missiles.A deadly clash on their disputed border in the Himalayas in June 2020, the first in decades, prompted Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to urge Moscow <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/after-border-clash-with-china-india-urges-delivery-russian-s400-2020-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to speed up the delivery</a>.<div type="image" title="Lloyd Austin Rajnath Singh India" height="1215" width="2000" msid="82559554" hostid="261"></div>The sale has been a sticking point for the US. The Trump administration <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amid-trade-war-the-us-sanctions-china-for-buying-russian-weapons-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sanctioned China for purchasing the S-400</a> in late 2018 and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-administration-reportedly-sanctioning-turkey-over-s-400-2020-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">then sanctioned Turkey for buying it</a> in December 2020.Russia has been a major arms supplier to India for decades. Those sales <a href="https://www.sipri.org/media/press-release/2021/international-arms-transfers-level-after-years-sharp-growth-middle-eastern-arms-imports-grow-most" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have declined</a> in recent years, but India still uses many Russian weapons, such as fighter jets and warships, and relies on Moscow to maintain them.The Biden administration hasn't taken a public position on sanctions for that purchase. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed the sale with his Indian counterpart in March but said sanctions weren't mentioned."We certainly urge all our allies and partners to move away from ... that [Russian equipment] and really avoid any kind of acquisitions that would trigger sanctions on our behalf," Austin said in New Delhi on March 20."There has been no delivery of an S-400 system, and so ... the issue of sanctions is not one that's been discussed," Austin added. "But we did address with the [Indian] minister of defense the issue of the S-400."The Defense Department has not had "any additional conversations with India about this planned acquisition" since Austin's visit, a department spokesman told Insider, adding that the Pentagon is focused on assisting India with a COVID-19 breakout that is one of the worst in the world.<h2>Strategic autonomy</h2><div type="image" title="modi putin hug" height="1385" width="2000" msid="82559555" hostid="261"></div>US-India relations have been ascendant, due in large part to shared concern about China's growing influence. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-intelligence-sharing-with-india-helps-monitor-chinese-military-2020-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two countries' military cooperation</a> has increased, but India has sought to maintain its ties with Russia, a reflection of its desire for "<a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3131683/message-us-and-china-india-and-russia-put-two-and-two-together" target="_blank" rel="noopener">strategic autonomy</a>."While US sanctions over the S-400 weren't discussed in Austin's meeting, they are seen as likely to undercut Washington's efforts to work closer with New Delhi."That's going to really undermine the relationship, and we need to avoid that," Joe Felter, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South Asia from 2017 to 2019, said at a recent panel event hosted by the Joint Special Operations University."But India needs to play ball with us and understand that ... buying US equipment is not only investment in quality defense equipment," Felter added. "It signals who you want to build your relationship with."Indian officials, however, may bristle at sanctions, seeing them as interference in their affairs and disregard for the <a href="https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/12/09/us-arms-sales-to-india-zoomed-to-3-4-billion-in-trump-govts-final-year.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">billions</a> India has already spent on US weapons, while remaining undeterred from purchasing Russian arms. (India already <a href="https://theprint.in/defence/india-russia-agree-on-new-payment-mode-for-s-400-deal-to-get-around-us-sanctions/260341/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">had to navigate</a> US sanctions to pay for the S-400.)<div type="image" title="Biden Suga Modi Morrison India Japan Australia Quad" height="1334" width="2000" msid="82559556" hostid="261"></div>"For the next couple of years I don't think there is going to be an attempt at jettisoning that relationship [with Russia] from the Indian side," Nandan Unnikrishnan, a distinguished fellow at Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, said at a recent <a href="https://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/global-perspectives-indian-russian-relations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wilson Center</a> event.While Indian defense spending is likely to continue declining and be spread among more suppliers, "India is going to buy some of the necessities it has from the Russians because it's not available anywhere else," Unnikrishnan added.The 2017 US law that requires sanctions also contains a waiver <a href="https://www.state.gov/countering-americas-adversaries-through-sanctions-act-of-2017/sections-231-and-235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provision</a>. US officials have <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-may-be-as-harsh-trump-india-missiles-says-dc-expert" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly told</a> India it is unlikely to get a waiver, but at least <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/12/united-states-india-quad-china-russia-s-400-caasta-waiver-biden-modi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one US lawmaker</a> has called on Biden to grant one.While the Biden administration has said little about the issue, "signaling on the strategic relationship is broadly positive," according to Richard Rossow, Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Studies.Austin's visit to India was his first foreign trip, and it came a few days after Biden himself joined his Indian, Australian, and Japanese counterparts at the first meeting of leaders of "the Quad," an informal grouping focused on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region."Considering our overall awareness that India plans to onboard the S-400 missile-defense system at some point over the next two years, these are key signals," Rossow said.

Russian weapons are creating a headache for the US as it looks for partners to counter China

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>'s years-long attempt to resolve a century-old territorial dispute with <keyword id="6358826" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Russia">Russia</keyword> hasn't made progress and remains a source of tension, the top US commander in Japan said this month.</li><li>Those comments were punctuated by Russia's deployment of an advanced air-defense system to the territory, part of a military build up in the region that's seen as directed at the US and Japan.</li></ul>Japan's years-long effort to end a longstanding territorial dispute with Russia has been fruitless, the US's top commander in Japan said this month, an assessment underscored by simultaneous military moves by Moscow.Under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, "there was an ongoing dialogue" with "about two dozen high-level meetings" aimed at settling the dispute over what Russia calls the Kuril Islands, Air Force Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider, commander of US forces in Japan, said at an Air Force Association <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VGtdNZ7zk8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">event</a> on December 1."How do I say this diplomatically - there's little to no return on investment in any of those conversations," Schneider added. "So that continues to be a source of tension."As Schneider spoke, Russia announced the deployment of its advanced S-300V4 air-defense system to the Kurils for combat duty, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN28C0WP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">drawing</a> a formal complaint from Japan.<div type="image" title="Kuril Island Iturup Soviet tank" height="1333" width="2000" msid="79818570" hostid="261"></div>The dispute over the Kurils, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, dates back more than a century. Russia occupied them at the end of World War II, but Japan still claims the islands. As a result, they have never signed a peace treaty ending that war.Abe left office in September, and his successor, Yoshihide Suga, spoke to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the dispute later that month. At the time, Suga <a href="https://apnews.com/article/shinzo-abe-yoshihide-suga-world-war-ii-territorial-disputes-russia-c00569ee896d52c571180b6cf9d64689" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> he would "firmly tackle the problem" with Putin, but Suga may not have more success than Abe, whose outreach was repeatedly rebuffed."Abe really put a lot of effort into the personal diplomacy with Putin to try to move the needle" on a resolution, said Sheila Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.Smith said Putin "toyed with Abe" by expressing interest in and then spurning the idea of a settlement. A former Russian official described Putin's approach as "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-offer-to-japan-to-end-wwii-island-dispute-may-just-be-trolling-2018-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trolling</a>."Abe "probably put too much effort into it, because Putin shifted gears on him repeatedly," Smith told Insider. "There were moments when it should have been pretty clear, I think, to Prime Minister Abe that Putin was not going to lead Russia forward in this."<h2>'Antagonism on all fronts'</h2><div type="image" title="Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visits the Southern Kuril Island of Iturup, Russia August 2, 2019. Sputnik/Alexander Astafyev/Pool via REUTERS " height="3667" width="5501" msid="79818571" hostid="261"></div>Shorter-range air-defense systems have already been deployed to the Kurils, as have fighter jets and anti-ship missiles, part of a buildup <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-russia-to-move-troops-into-new-barracks-on-disputed-islands-near-japan-2018-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on the islands</a> and across the region."There's certainly been accelerated push to build up Russian military power in Eastern Siberia and the Far East," Alexey Muraviev, an expert on Russia's military at Australia's Curtain University, told Insider this summer. "That's evident with accelerated capability upgrades of the Russian Pacific Fleet."Russia's defense minister <a href="https://tass.com/defense/1201859" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in mid-September that the "military and political situation" in the region "remains tense," but Russia's relations with China have warmed, and the moves are seen as directed at the US and Japan.Russian and US ships and aircraft have in recent months <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-russia-tell-different-stories-about-a-confrontation-at-sea-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">operated</a> near each other's <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-bombers/russia-scrambles-jets-to-escort-u-s-bombers-over-okhotsk-sea-interfax-idUSKBN23Q12Q" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coasts</a> in the North Pacific, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bering-strait-importance-grows-amid-us-russia-tension-arctic-activity-2020-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">both see as provocative</a>. Russia is also concerned about the US potentially basing intermediate-range missiles in Japan, as well as Japan's pursuit of the US-made Aegis missile-defense system.Schneider said Japanese aircraft scramble 300 times a year in response to Russian activity north of Japan, reflecting what Japan's military sees mainly as an "air-defense mission" on its northern frontier, Smith said.<div type="image" title="An aerial photo shows a Chinese marine surveillance ship Haijian No. 66 (C) cruising next to Japan Coast Guard patrol ships in the East China Sea, near what are known as the Senkaku isles in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China, in this photo taken by Kyodo April 23, 2013. REUTERS/Kyodo " height="469" width="800" msid="79818574" hostid="261"></div>Japan and South Korea also have a dispute over a group of small islands off Japan's west coast - a "latent" dispute, Smith said, but one China and Russia <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/explainer-competing-claims-make-northeast-asian-sea-a-flashpoint-2019-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have seized on to stoke tension</a>."Prior it was a political bone of contention," Smith said of the dispute, "but now there's this other element to it where the Russians and the Chinese clearly feel they can exploit the differences between the US allies."Japan faces its most active territorial dispute to the southwest, over the <keyword id="439173" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Senkaku-islands">Senkaku Islands</keyword>, which Japan administers but China claims, calling them the <keyword id="1187443" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Diaoyu-Islands">Diaoyu Islands</keyword>.Beijing has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-accuses-china-of-pushing-territorial-claims-during-pandemic-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased its military activity</a> around the islands, and Japan has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-chinas-marine-corps-compares-to-japans-amphibious-force-2020-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">boosted its military capabilities</a> in response. Japanese aircraft scramble 600 times a year in response to Chinese activity in the area, Schneider said."Each of these island disputes have different military dimensions to them, but if you're sitting in Tokyo looking north, looking west, and looking south, you've got antagonism on all fronts," Smith said.<h2>'Coordinated and coalition responses'</h2><div type="image" title="Japan Kaga carrier sword fighting" height="1005" width="1400" msid="79818577" hostid="261"></div>Japan has been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-and-uk-joint-exercises-for-first-time-to-gain-an-edge-on-china-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">building up its military</a> and deepening relationships with neighbors to counter <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-india-talk-logistics-and-base-sharing-deal-amid-china-tensions-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">external challenges</a>, particularly from China, but headwinds at home add to an already complex situation.Japan faces "an aging economy and low productivity," Hervé Lemahieu, director of the Power and Diplomacy Program at Australia's Lowy Institute think tank, told Insider in October.Demographic changes are <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japan-s-latest-security-threat-its-declining-birthrate#:~:text=All%20three%20SDF%20branches%20have,challenges%20of%20the%2021st%20century." target="_blank" rel="noopener">a particular problem</a> for Japan's military, which struggles to recruit and retain personnel."On the other hand, [Japan has] only become more influential in terms of its diplomacy," added Lemahieu. Lowy's most recent Asia Power Index <a href="https://power.lowyinstitute.org/countries/japan/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found that Japan</a> "exerts more influence in the region than expected given its available resources" and has made "progress in its regional defence diplomacy."<div type="image" title="Japan ground self defense force British troops soldiers exercise" height="803" width="1071" msid="79818578" hostid="261"></div>Under Abe, Japan significantly increased its military spending and reinterpreted its constitution to allow its military "to work closely with [the US] military but also with the militaries of Australia, India, and other partners across the Indo-Pacific," Smith told Insider.Smith said that there would likely be "a certain amount of momentum" in defense spending under Suga but noted that the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is not yet fully apparent - for Japan and its rivals.Japan has handled the pandemic well, "but because a global economic recession now plays into the challenges that Japan already has ... we don't expect Japan to recover until 2027," Lemahieu said."The consequences of that economic shock absolutely are going to affect Japanese ability to invest militarily," which likely means Tokyo will emphasize relationships to make its "defense investments go further," Smith said."I think that's where you will see the Japanese really move as much as they can to build these coordinated and coalition responses" to security challenges, Smith added.

New Russian weapons add to simmering tensions over a lingering territorial dispute in Asia

Mohali, Dec 6 () Leading industrialists on Friday pledged full support to the Punjab government to make it a frontrunner on the country's industrial map.
They also urged Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to put growth in textile and garments, agro and food processing, steel and other sectors on fasttrack in view of immense potential in these verticals.
A session on the concluding day of Progressive Punjab Investors Summit-2019 underlined the state's strong industrial base coupled with peaceful and skilled workforce.
The participants exhorted the chief minister to accelerate the pace of development in these key sectors with his government's support.
The session was moderated by Vardhman Special Steel MD Sachit Jain, and the panelists were Vice Chairman of International Tractor A S Mittal, Chairman Trident Group Rajinder Gupta, Nahar Group MD Kamal Oswal, Chairman Bunge India Samir Jain and Air Asia CEO Sunil Bhaskaran.
The majority of panellists extended full support and cooperation to the state government in its endeavour to make Punjab a frontrunner on the country's industrial map.
Initiating the discussion, Sachit Jain said Punjab had a strong industrial eco-system, which could play a vanguard role in promoting industry, especially in the manufacturing sector.
He noted that the state had wide scope for growth of the IT and ITeS, especially in the light of the new industrial policy.
Taking part in the deliberations, Trident's Rajinder Gupta said he had made massive investments in his textile units in Barnala district, besides investing nearly Rs 10 crore on the education of children and women welfare in the rural sector as part of his corporate social responsibility.
Mittal shared his experience with the Japanese company Yanmar, which has led to marked quality improvement in the manufacturing facility at Hoshiarpur.
He also emphasized the need to encourage Japan-based suppliers and vendors to invest in the local MSMEs dealing with auto parts, in order to enhance quality of their products in line with international standards.
Oswal said Nahar Group was setting up a logistics park over an area of 45 acres at a cost of Rs 300 crore in Ludhiana, besides another industrial park over an area of 100 acres at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore to house green industry - IT &amp; ITeS, with facilities of housing, malls and retail. 
In another session, industry called for more international flights from the state to harness its massive potential to emerge as a Medical Tourism hub.
The only thing the Punjab government needs to do is to press upon the Union fovernment to bring more direct international flights in the state from CIS nations, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and to cater to NRI populations in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand in order to attract patients, the delegates said.
UAE commercial Attache to India (Minister Plenipotentiary), Ahmad Sultan Al Falahi said the growing Indo-UAE economic and commercial relations contribute valuable stability and strength to bilateral relationship between the two countries. CHS BAL
BAL

Industry pledges full support to Punjab govt

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> has been expanding its influence and taking a more aggressive posture toward <keyword id="46274" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Taiwan">Taiwan</keyword>.</li><li>That has raised concerns that Beijing may attempt to retake the island by force.</li><li>Whether the US and other countries would help, and what help they would offer, remains in doubt.</li></ul>Twenty-five years ago, two US Navy carrier strike groups were enough to deter possible Chinese military action against Taiwan after China <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/taiwan_strait.htm" target="_top">launched</a> missiles that landed a few dozen miles off its coast.Now, after a massive <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-pentagon-maps-show-chinas-increasing-military-power-and-reach-2020-9" target="_top">modernization effort by China's military</a>, known as the People's Liberation Army, two carrier strike groups, and possibly US forces alone, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/china-s-growing-firepower-casts-doubt-whether-u-s-could-n1262148" target="_top">may not be enough</a>.This is especially daunting for Taiwan, as it is unclear whether it can get help from anyone else if, or when, the time comes.In March, Adm. Philip Davidson, the head of US Indo-Pacific Command at the time, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/10/china-could-invade-taiwan-in-next-six-years-top-us-admiral-warns" target="_top">told</a> the Senate Armed Services Committee that China could invade Taiwan in the next six years.A few days later, Adm. John Aquilino, Davidson's successor, declined to comment on that assessment but <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/23/taiwan-china-threat-admiral-john-aquilino" target="_top">said</a> China views Taiwan "as their No. 1 priority," and that, in his opinion, "this problem is much closer to us than most think."<h2>Who could help?</h2><div type="image" title="US Navy destroyer Spruance Taiwan Strait" height="1050" width="1400" msid="82372368" hostid="261"></div>Taiwan's problem with finding friends isn't new. Since the 1970s, most countries have severed official ties with Taipei and instead recognized Beijing, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway province.Today, only 15 countries - none in Asia - recognize Taiwan as an independent sovereign state, though Taiwan does maintain unofficial diplomatic relations with many countries, including the US and most of its neighbors.The countries in the best position to help Taiwan in an invasion scenario are <keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword>, <keyword id="5565" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="South-Korea">South Korea</keyword>, <keyword id="107886" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-Philippines">the Philippines</keyword>, and <keyword id="6355478" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="australia">Australia</keyword>. In addition to their proximity to Taiwan, they also have their own concerns about China's rising power.Those countries have seen their relationships with China sour in recent years, but they <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-china-watcher/2020/10/08/former-intel-officers-were-thinking-about-taiwan-wrong-taipei-beijing-washington-conflict-490547" target="_top">are unlikely</a> to intervene directly if Taiwan was invaded.South Korea hosts some 28,000 US troops and the US's largest overseas military base, but it also worries about the threat from North Korea and the costs of a shooting war with China. Seoul is not even clear on whether it would allow US forces to use bases there for Taiwan-related operations.<div type="image" title="Taiwan military exercise invasion fighter jet highway landing Han Kuang" height="933" width="1400" msid="82372369" hostid="261"></div>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made overtures to China since taking office in 2016 - that year, he <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-philippines-idUSKCN12K0AS" target="_top">declared</a> his country's "separation" from the US, saying he had "realigned" with Beijing - and continues to have a <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/07/philippines-us-military-duterte-biden/" target="_top">standoffish relationship</a> with the US.Despite taking <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/china/philippines-tells-china-mind-its-own-business-over-maritime-drills-2021-04-28/" target="_top">a tougher tone</a> with China in recent weeks over its <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3130207/it-will-be-bloody-philippines-duterte-threatens-stake" target="_top">maritime viola</a><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3130207/it-will-be-bloody-philippines-duterte-threatens-stake" target="_top">t</a><a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3130207/it-will-be-bloody-philippines-duterte-threatens-stake" target="_top">ions</a>, Duterte is still <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/29/dutertes-mix-message-on-south-china-sea-dispute-draws-criticism" target="_top">seen as reluctant</a> to confront Beijing.Australia's government is <a href="https://www.afr.com/world/asia/canberra-prepares-for-taiwan-conflict-as-tensions-escalate-20210416-p57jqv" target="_top">considering</a> whether and how it could aid Taiwan in such a conflict, the Financial Review reported, but Canberra has made no official declaration, and its distance from Taiwan would prevent a quick response.Apart from the US, "you're probably talking about Japan by far being the most active potential participant," Zack Cooper, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told Insider.The Japan Self-Defense Forces is quite <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA314-1.html" target="_top">capable</a> and is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-rethinks-tank-use-to-prepare-for-potential-china-clash-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reorganizing itself</a> to better handle the Chinese threat. Japan also hosts about <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-270" target="_top">55,000</a> US troops, the largest forward-deployed US force in the world, and has its own <a href="https://www.cfr.org/chinas-maritime-disputes/#!/chinas-maritime-disputes?cid=otr-marketing_use-china_sea_InfoGuide" target="_top">territorial disputes</a> with China.Japan certainly has a lot at stake if Taiwan fell to China.Chinese <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-chinese-invasion-threat-ian-easton/1127180236" target="_top">military documents said</a> that with Taiwan under Chinese control, "Japan's maritime lines of communication will fall completely within the striking ranges of China's fighters and bombers."The documents also said that 500 million tons of Japanese imports pass through Taiwanese waters, including 90% of its oil and 99% of its mineral resources. If blockades could reduce those imports by just 30%, the documents add, "Japan's economic and war-making potential will be basically destroyed."<div type="image" title="Taiwan marines" height="1667" width="2500" msid="82372370" hostid="261"></div>Japan has recently been <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/04/16/u-s-japan-joint-leaders-statement-u-s-japan-global-partnership-for-a-new-era/">more vocal</a> about Taiwan, but Tokyo has made no official statements about how it would respond to an invasion. Japan has a pacifist constitution, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3130423/japan-troops-wont-get-involved-if-china-invades-taiwan-pm" target="_top">said</a> that his recent expression of support in a joint statement with President Joe Biden "does not presuppose military involvement at all."Japan is expected to play some role - in part because US bases in Japan are expected to play a role - but, Cooper said, "the spectrum of activities is going to depend a huge amount" on the scenario."The range of actions are potentially very wide," Cooper added.A major factor is whether the PLA attacks bases in Japan. "I think in that case you'd see very close cooperation between the US and Japan to respond militarily and perhaps even to try and support Taiwan," Cooper said.But it's not clear that Japan and the US have a plan for such a scenario or have even discussed one."That, I think, is in fact why the alliance has to talk about this now," Cooper said. "We can't just assume that we know what either Washington or Tokyo would do in a crisis."<h2>Strategic ambiguity</h2><div type="image" title="Palau Taiwan ambassador John Hennessey-Niland" height="1333" width="2000" msid="82372373" hostid="261"></div>Taipei has its own doubts about Washington, as the US has also never officially committed to coming to Taiwan's aid if it were invaded.While the US has sold high-end weaponry to Taiwan and the Biden administration has been <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-will-support-taiwan-self-defense-us-delegation-1583752" target="_top">vocal</a> about its support, the US maintains a policy of <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/why-us-%E2%80%98strategic-ambiguity%E2%80%99-taiwan-isn%E2%80%99t-going-away-182632" target="_top">strategic ambiguity</a> about defending Taiwan. That ambiguity has maintained the status quo, but it limits preparations to respond to an invasion.While the US and Taiwan militaries do conduct <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/us-marines-covert-training-operation-taiwan-defense-troops-1546213" target="_top">small-scale</a> trainings and exchanges, there have been no large-scale joint exercises or permanent deployments since the US pulled out of its mutual defense treaty with Taiwan in 1979.The US has military attachés in Taiwan, but the Pentagon doesn't send its highest-ranking officials there."They send very small groups of people to Taiwan," said Ian Easton, the senior director at the Project 2049 Institute. "They don't stay there for very long. They don't learn the language. They don't develop a deep relationship with their counterparts."This means that the US and Taiwan militaries would struggle to coordinate in a conflict. It also means that top US military leaders may not have a full understanding of the battle space."They're going to have to give military advice on a situation they're going to not understand very well because they've never even been to the country that they're talking about," said Easton, the author of "The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan's Defense and American Strategy in Asia."<h2>A need to prepare</h2><div type="image" title="Taiwan Tien Chien missile" height="1551" width="2200" msid="82372376" hostid="261"></div>The US's focus on high-end weapon sales and statements of support <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-military-buildup-attitude-toward-taiwan-raises-conflict-fears-2020-9" target="_top">may not be enough</a> as the PLA grows stronger."We've been putting all of our eggs in the arms-sales basket, and that's just not good enough," Easton said. "We wouldn't do that with any other ally." He added that the US would not do that with any other democracy "that faces the threat of invasion and occupation from an authoritarian neighbor."US officials have said that clarifying the US's ambiguity could lead Beijing to feel it has to act."If we were to see a US shift from strategic ambiguity, as you've identified it, to clarity over willingness to intervene in a Taiwan contingency, the Chinese would find this deeply destabilizing," Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, told the Senate in late April."I think it would solidify Chinese perceptions that the US is bent on constraining China's rise, including through military force, and would probably cause Beijing to aggressively undermine US interests worldwide," Haines said.Critics of strategic ambiguity said the best way to deter an invasion or ensure Taiwan survives one is to make it clear to China that such an action would be too costly. That would require countries in the best positions to help to make concrete plans for everything from basing rights and logistical support to direct military action, which many have avoided doing."We need to raise the saliency of this threat that we all face, because it's a common threat," Easton said. "We need to be ready to defend Taiwan, and we need our allies to be ready to support us as we do that."

Fears of a Chinese attack on Taiwan are growing, and Taiwan isn't sure who would help if it happened

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="112421" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="John-Kerry">John Kerry</keyword> was in China this week discussing climate change and some people are upset about it.</li><li>They think cooperation on that issue could stop the US from being aggressive with Beijing about a host of other issues.</li><li>They're delusional.</li><li>This is an <keyword id="6356002" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="opinion">opinion</keyword> column. The thoughts expressed are those of the author.</li></ul>President <keyword id="99719" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Joe-Biden">Joe Biden</keyword>'s special envoy on climate, John Kerry, went to Shanghai this week to discuss how best the two largest economies in the world can address the threat of climate change. Despite the meeting being pretty standard stuff, it still has some US-China watchers completely losing their minds. This freak out crew would prefer to have cordial relations between the two countries end tomorrow and instead have the US put maximum pressure on the <keyword id="145440" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Chinese-Communist-Party">Chinese Communist Party</keyword>. They would prefer a world completely split in two, divided by a "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-china-huawei-indictment-marks-end-cycle-of-trust-2019-1">digital iron curtain</a>" with the US and fellow democracies on one side, and China, Russia, and their allies on the other. Economic ties would be cut, the flow of people would slow to a trickle, and the prospect of war would heighten across the world.To them, Kerry and his message of cooperation on climate change could derail that future. That's a false choice, but despite it's absurdity the idea <a href="https://twitter.com/gordongchang/status/1381735700094128128?s=21">has become pervasive</a>. Over at the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/12/23/the-risk-of-john-kerry-following-his-own-china-policy/">Brookings Institution</a> they decided that Kerry could go rogue, becoming a one-man wrecking ball for the entire government's more muscular China policy. This is ridiculous on its face. Ultimately it is President Biden who will decide the direction of our China policy - and, as one former Obama administration Asia hand told me dismissing this theory, "John Kerry is no panda hugger."This is a delicate moment. The boundaries of the US-China relationship are being redrawn. We are watching trust rapidly dissipate between world powers in real time, and we shouldn't waste what little trust we have now on empty antagonism. There will likely come a time when we wish we had that trust back.<h2>A bomb and the time bomb</h2>In the 1950s and 1960s the end of human civilization was staring its destruction in the face in the form of the nuclear bomb. The bomb was getting bigger and deadlier; spreading to more countries; and had already laid waste to cities and contaminated populations.And so in 1963 during some of the most frigid times of the Cold War between the United States and USSR, the key nuclear powers of the time (which also included the United Kingdom), signed the <a href="https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/avc/trty/199116.htm">Limited Testing Ban Treaty</a>. The treaty regulated how and where countries could test their bombs, and it set up an emergency line of communication between powers to avert disaster - "the hotline."This all amounted to one critical thread of cooperation between the US and USSR during an otherwise entirely uncooperative period. The Cold War went on, but the prospect of nuclear winter shrank.Today the threat facing human civilization is climate change, and the two countries that most need to work together to solve it - the US and China - are on the verge of another conflict that will force the planet to choose sides. In both countries there are people who are calling for a cessation of cooperative interactions. To them, every cooperative meeting is a Trojan Horse, during which one side will magically convince the other to forget every other issue pulling them apart. But what we learned from the Cold War is that the US and an adversarial superpower are perfectly capable of sustaining fierce competition, while also cooperating enough to keep the world from destroying itself. When it comes to the US and China today, not only are we not in as dark a place as we were with the USSR in 1963, but we also have far more economic and business ties to break before we get there.Until we're serious about breaking those ties entirely (we're not yet), we shouldn't act like we are. That's called posturing, and the United States <a href="https://twitter.com/mikepompeo/status/1381392669704871942?s=21">ought to be above</a> that.That doesn't mean we aren't aggressive regarding issues that concern us - like Xinjiang, Hong Kong, North Korea, and Taiwan. It does not mean we aren't aggressive when China bullies our allies, like Australia, or engages in cyber hacking. It does not shrink our commitment to democracy. But it does mean finding ways to cooperate where we can and keeping lines of communication open.I mean my God, even in 1963 they had the hotline.<h2>Cooperation</h2>Here's how I know we're not serious about cutting commercial and social ties with China just yet. Right now the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is working on a sweeping bipartisan bill to address China's rising power. In it there's hundreds of million of dollars for defense and programs to country China's telecommunications rise. But for companies that want to move their operations and supply lines out of China there's just $15 million. The US government loses $15 million in the couch cushions. That is not serious money.But what people who do business in China will tell you is that getting public data, or having the mobility and access to interview customers to do business there, is getting harder. On March 19, Anne Stevenson-Yang, founder of China-focused investment firm J Capital Research Ltd testified before the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Capitol Hill. She told attendees that more and more of China is state run - that it's not opening it's <keyword id="34412" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="economy">economy</keyword> anymore, that it's closing it. Public economic data that used to be easy to get started evaporating back in 2015, shortly after Chinese President <keyword id="191809" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Xi-Jinping">Xi Jinping</keyword> took power. This back pedaling does not just make Chinese society more brittle, she argued, but it also creates incentives in the Chinese economy that put investors and multinational corporations at risk. The solution, in some of those instances, is more cooperation - not less."The practical remedy for faked data, for example, on a corporate, industrial, and macroeconomic level, is to grant American researchers unfettered access to conduct surveys, interview individuals, and review financial records of all sorts in a legal proceeding, including tax records, audit papers, invoices, and communications," she said. "A key impediment to such data collection is China's law forbidding independent surveys. Survey teams need to be able to access respondents within a framework of privacy law but not one of data supervision."Achieving that requires cooperation, but that doesn't mean Stevenson-Yang isn't realistic about where it is not possible. For example, she recommends treating Huawei, ZTE, and other Chinese network gear as spyware and supports technology export restrictions.If China closes and gradually makes itself a terrible place to do business, that is on China. It is on the US government to ensure that our multinational corporations are ethical, transparent, and consider our domestic interests at the center of their business. In the meantime the most productive thing to do is engage with China to protect investors and US businesses as best we can.Besides, this is America and we do capitalism. If you want to do business in China and don't mind the uncertainty of having your product <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/19/tesla-cars-restricted-among-military-personnel-in-china-report.html">randomly barred</a> from military complexes and personnel; or you want to deal with your company being <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/style/china-cotton-uyghur-hm-nike.html">harassed and boycotted</a> for not endorsing cotton from Xinjiang or whatever, knock yourself out.<h2>Separating the principled from the petty</h2>In this fragile moment, there is a danger of confusing the principled with the petty. When that happens, any slight can lead to a stand off.There are petty new features of this more antagonistic relationship we all just have to get used to rolling off our backs. For example, China forced the world to get used to its hyper-aggressive "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy, and now it has to get used to a US strategy that it dislikes - US led multilateralism. To China, when we rally our allies to make joint statements about things like human rights abuses in Xinjiang, <a href="https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202103/1220002.shtml">that's bullying.</a> Too bad. When the US is run correctly, that's how we do things. Beijing will have to get over it.This is to make space for the issues that Beijing and Washington cannot get over, most of which was discussed between President Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday. Suga will be the first foreign leader to visit the White House since Biden took office. It is a sign of the gravity of the matters they have to discuss - like North Korea, Taiwan and a maintaining "free and open Indo-Pacific."Perhaps it's a coincidence that Kerry's and Suga's meetings fall at the same time, perhaps it's not. Both are meant to address exigent situations that demand cooperation at highest levels of government and both must be had. Until the day comes when we are serious about ending the US-China relationship - and that day very well may come - we should continue to seek cooperation where it benefits the people and institutions of the United States of America. Anything else is an exercise in fantasy, or worse - just posturing.

When it comes to China, the US need to figure out which fights are principled, and which fights are petty

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Sri Lanka navySri Lankan navy personnel welcome the Chinese navy ship Hai Yangdao, October 4, 2018.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>India, Japan, and the US have taken notice of growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific region and are looking to counter it.</li><li>Sri Lanka, an island country strategically located near major shipping lines, has become a focus of that effort.</li><li>China has major interests in ports there, and the US and Japan have expanded their security cooperation.</li></ul>China's growing presence in the Pacific and Indian oceans has its neighbors on guard, and their competition for influence has kept Sri Lanka's capital and port city of Colombo busy this month.On October 1, a day after Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopter carrier Kaga, the country's largest warship, and destroyer Inazuma <a href="http://news.navy.lk/eventnews/2018/09/30/201809301620/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sailed into Colombo</a>, the ships' commanding officers and the commander of Japan's escort flotilla four, Rear Admiral Tatsuya Fukuda, <a href="http://news.navy.lk/eventnews/2018/10/02/201810021040/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">met with the head</a> of the Sri Lankan navy, sharing "views on matters of bilateral importance.""Japan's government is promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific and this deployment in the Asia Pacific is a component of that strategy," Fukuda <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-as-chinese-influence-grows-japanese-warship-visits-sri-lanka-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Reuters</a> as his ships sailed to Sri Lanka. Japanese naval vessels have stopped in Sri Lanka 50 times over the past five years, he said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Sri Lanka navySri Lanka navy personnel welcome Japanese navy ships Kaga and Inazuma in Colombo, September 30, 2018.</div></div></div>On October 4, the same day the JMSDF ships departed, Chinese navy ship Hai Yangdao arrived for a four-day "<a href="http://news.navy.lk/eventnews/2018/10/04/201810041535/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">goodwill visit</a>," according to Sri Lanka's navy, which said the Chinese ship's skipper and the commander of Sri Lanka's western naval area "held a cordial discussion on matters of mutual interest."Sri Lanka sits not far from shipping lines through the Indian Ocean that carry much of the world's <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2017-09/sri-lanka-open-door-indian-ocean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">container traffic</a> and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-to-buy-submarines-amid-china-naval-activity-in-the-indian-ocean-2017-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">majority of China's energy</a> imports. Its location has made it an area of interest for countries throughout the region.Chinese <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-chinas-xi-offers-fresh-295-million-grant-to-sri-lanka-in-push-for-dominance-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">assistance</a> to the country <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-warship-gift-to-sri-lanka-amid-growing-competition-with-india-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has grown over the past decade</a>, after the US ended direct military aid over Sri Lanka's poor human-rights record. Earlier this year, China said it would give Sri Lanka <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-warship-gift-to-sri-lanka-amid-growing-competition-with-india-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a naval frigate as a gift</a>.That relationship has become more of a concern for India, Japan, and others in recent years, especially after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indias-concern-with-beijing-expansion-grows-with-sri-lanka-port-deal-2017-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sri Lanka granted China control</a> of the port of Hambantota for 99 years in 2017.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Google MapsSri Lanka sits near important shipping lines through which much of Asia's energy supplies pass on their way to the Malacca Strait.</div></div></div>India in particular is worried Beijing will use the port for military purposes - China and Sri Lanka <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-sri-lanka-to-shift-naval-base-to-china-controlled-port-city-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">both deny</a> that will happen - and to augment the presence it has elsewhere in the region, including at a port in Pakistan and a military outpost in Djibouti. New Delhi has watched warily as Chinese submarines and other warships have passed through the area over the past several years. India's security posture has undergone what has been called "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-to-buy-submarines-amid-china-naval-activity-in-the-indian-ocean-2017-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a tectonic shift</a>" toward the country's southern approaches in recent years.On October 6, Sri Lankan navy ships SLNS Sagara, an offshore patrol ship, and SLNS Suranimala, a missile ship, <a href="http://news.navy.lk/eventnews/2018/10/07/201810071435/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">both left Colombo</a> on their way to India for a four-day goodwill visit that was to include training exercises.Japan has also sought a larger role in the Indian Ocean region. Tokyo has expanded security partnerships and plans to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure projects there - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/japan-developing-projects-in-indian-ocean-amid-china-india-rivalry-2018-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ambitions that rival</a> China's.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Yamada Taro/Wikimedia CommonsThe Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Kaga helicopter carrier.</div></div></div>The arrival of Kaga was purportedly meant as a sign to Sri Lanka that Japan <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-as-chinese-influence-grows-japanese-warship-visits-sri-lanka-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was willing to deploy</a> major military assets to an area of the world where China's influence is growing.After the Kaga's departure, Japan's navy was to begin four days of joint exercises with Sri Lanka's navy in the Indian Ocean meant to strengthen cooperation between the two forces. Sources <a href="http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004874269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told The Japan Times</a> that it was also meant as a message to China, though a MSDF said no specific country as being targeted.As a part of the exercise, Sri Lankan officers will board the Kaga to observe Japanese training and to exchange information on humanitarian operations. (Officers from the US Navy's 7th Fleet <a href="https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20181008_04/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are also</a> on hand.)"It's rare for the MSDF to allow military officials of other countries to board any of its vessels during an exercise at sea," a public-relations official of the <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">Defense</keyword> Ministry's Maritime Staff Office <a href="http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0004874269" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> The Japan Times.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Sri Lanka navySri Lanka navy personnel welcome the US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy, April 25, 2018.</div></div></div>Since the 2015 electoral defeat of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who presided over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-warship-gift-to-sri-lanka-amid-growing-competition-with-india-2018-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a number of questionable deals with China</a>, the US has also looked for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-wants-to-lure-a-strategic-south-asian-island-nation-away-from-china-2015-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ways to rebuild ties</a> with Colombo.Washington, along with Tokyo and New Delhi, has reportedly taken an interest in the port of Trincomalee on Sri Lanka's eastern coast as a way <a href="https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/5/14785/US-And-Japan-Look-at--Sri-Lankan-Port-To-Checkmate-China" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to counter</a> China's presence at Hambantota and around the region.Trincomalee <a href="http://news.navy.lk/eventnews/2018/04/25/201804251845/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saw a visit</a> by the US Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy in April, and in August - a few weeks after Sri Lanka took part in the US-led Rim of the Pacific military exercise for <a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/2018/06/04/local/152803/sri-lanka-rimpac-first-time" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the first time</a> - the amphibious transport dock USS Anchorage <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/image/4673538/uss-anchorage-pulls-into-sri-lanka" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pulled into Trincomalee</a> with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit for a security cooperation exercise. (Such exercises have been done <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2017-09/sri-lanka-open-door-indian-ocean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">before</a>.)August <a href="http://www.adaderana.lk/news/49536/japanese-minister-of-defense-visits-eastern-naval-command" target="_blank" rel="noopener">also saw</a> a visit to Sri Lanka by Japan's defense minister, who stopped in Trincomalee and Hambantota. That visit came a few months after the Japanese foreign minister visited for the first time in 16 years."The message to China is that Japan, with India and the United States and of course Sri Lanka, has the capacity to engage militarily," Nozomu Yoshitomi, a professor at Nihon University and a former Ground Self Defence Force major general who advised the Japanese cabinet, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/r-as-chinese-influence-grows-japanese-warship-visits-sri-lanka-2018-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told Reuters</a> this month. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-japan-land-hopping-robots-on-asteroid-ryugu-2018-9">Why Japan is landing hopping robots on an asteroid</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The US and Japan are competing with China, and they've all got a small island country in their sights

A foundational issue in the political economy is what is the role of the state? While protection and safety against aggression, both from external and internal, seem to be the legitimate and core principles behind the formation of states, public services like education and healthcare are often now conceived as being the responsibility of the state. But, what about transportation/ mobility?, is it the responsibility of the state or is it best left to private providers. This is a question that societies have been grappling with for quite sometime now. 
 
In India, the transportation model is mixed and (some would say mixed up) with the state ensuring the basic infrastructure like roads and railway tracks and even airports and ports in most cases. Services over these are provided by both government and the private sector. Two recent debates over transportation have made headlines but have rarely been understood from a holistic viewpoint. 
 
The first of these was the odd-even rule in the capital, brought to reduce the negative externality of air pollution. Many people have been very skeptical about how the plan is to get implemented. 
 
Also, the lack of end-to-end connectivity, women safety, and enforceability are cited as major challenges to the rule. Experts contend that the record of these types of rules has not been very positive in other countries that have had similar rules. In addition, several people opine that before making these rules, it is a must to improve the existing transportation infrastructure within the city and to have cheap and convenient public transport. Also, alternative solutions like increasing ethanol content can be effective at the same time causing lesser inconvenience to common people. 
 
Another problem is with respect to India's lack of solution-oriented approach to mobility options within a city. This is where the need is to look at integrated urban mobility solutions for people residing in cities. Often the initial part or the ending part becomes exorbitantly expensive for people who live away from public transport systems. This is where there is a need for improvement both in terms of cost and convenience. 
 
The second major thing which hit the headlines in the recent times was the metro rail project that is an inter-city project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. A lot of debate has taken place regarding the cost dynamics of the proposed project that is estimated to cost close to Rs 70000 crore. If escalations are added, the project is expected to cost close to Rs 98000 crore. Out of these, Rs 70000 crore a bulk of the costs, i.e., Rs 50000 crore is expected to be civil costs that will go to Indian companies. 
 
The project is at an advanced stage with Japan agreeing to provide India with more than three-fourth of the loan at a concessional rate of 0.1 percent and moratorium period of 15 years and a payback period of 50 years. It is one of the best deals India has had regarding cost and time, even from Japan, which reflects the depth of the Indo-Japanese relationship. The train technology is second to none with respect to safety. It has not had a single causality in 50 years of operation. 
 
The crucial question to ask, therefore, is not if a high-speed technology is good or not but can India's existing rail infrastructure be upgraded to improve travel times? And if so, at what cost? Travel time improvement requires not just track up-gradation but also an improvement in capacity utilization. With already overburdened capacity on the rail network, is it possible to improve speed is a crucial question to ask and answer by rail authorities. And if it is not is it not wise to upgrade to better technology with proposed high-speed tracks? 
 
Over the next few decades, India must find solutions that are visionary but also pragmatic as more people live in urban and semi-urban areas. The travel times can drastically improve with newer technologies in rails and even in automobiles. But as a nation, we must look to find solutions that solve the pressing problems of our times like vehicular pollution, availability of public transport with public consultation and seeing if better alternative solutions exist. But once a decision is made Indians must all support it to take India ahead. 
 
(The article is co-authored with Sankalp Sharma, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Competitiveness, India. Amit Kapoor is Chair, Institute for Competitiveness &amp; Editor of Thinkers. The views expressed are personal. Amit can be reached at <a href="mailto:amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in">amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in</a> and tweets @kautiliya) 
 
(Image: Indiatimes)

You Searched For "Indo Japanese relationship" and got 12 results

The US and its allies are scrambling to respond to China's intensifying moves in the heart of the Pacific

Christopher Woody

The US and its allies are scrambling to respond to China's intensifying moves in the heart of the Pacific

Christopher Woody

Japan Is India’s Best Friend In The World

Ninad Sheth

Why India’s relationship with Russia is so special

SCMP

Japanese Kubota Corp widens JV with Escorts, picks up 10% stake for Rs 1,042 cr

PTI

Russian weapons are creating a headache for the US as it looks for partners to counter China

Christopher Woody

New Russian weapons add to simmering tensions over a lingering territorial dispute in Asia

Christopher Woody

Industry pledges full support to Punjab govt

PTI

Fears of a Chinese attack on Taiwan are growing, and Taiwan isn't sure who would help if it happened

Benjamin Brimelow

When it comes to China, the US need to figure out which fights are principled, and which fights are petty

Linette Lopez

The US and Japan are competing with China, and they've all got a small island country in their sights

Christopher Woody

Finding solutions to India's transportation challenges

Amit Kapoor

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides