00:00Joining me at Asianet News today is former Ambassador Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa. She is India's
00:22most distinguished diplomat with a 36-year career in Indian Foreign Service. That started in
00:291979 and she retired in 2015. She also served as the Indian Ambassador to Japan from August 2012
00:36to November 2015. Thank you so much Ambassador Wadhwa for speaking with Asianet News. You know
00:44yesterday we saw Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi holding the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit
00:50alongside Japanese counterpart Ishiba. All of this comes at a time when India-US relationship is
00:59going through a very turbulent times if I may say so. Our US is being so hegemonical in its
01:04approach towards India. At this time how do you see Japan's interaction with India, Japan a trusted
01:11partner? Well it is very true Hina that the world is going through a period of geopolitical and
01:18geoeconomic churn and I think this would certainly have figured on the agenda of the two Prime Ministers
01:24when they talk to review the relationship and they also talk about regional and global issues.
01:30So this certainly would have been very much part of the conversations but I think we should look at
01:36this visit in the bilateral context. As you know it's the 15th summit between Prime Ministers that
01:42are being held. It's actually an annual feature which was started in 2006 and has been continuing and the
01:50focus is really bilateral. Do they do speak and exchange perspectives on other issues? So I'm sure
01:56tariffs would have been very much a part of you know tariffs the US decisions which are affecting a lot
02:02of countries certainly would have been a part of the conversations but quite apart from that I think
02:08the India-Japan relationship one of the principal figures of pillars of the relationship really is
02:15economic cooperation. Right and Ambassador Wadhwa I you know in 2014 the special strategic and global
02:23partnership took off and that is the time when you were the ambassador in Japan and you saw this
02:29transition happen. How do you see the relationship between India and Japan evolved you know all of
02:35these years? Well actually the relationship between India and Japan I think I would really mark the
02:40beginning of this new phase in our relationship and I would go back to our 2000 when Prime Minister
02:47Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Japanese Prime Minister of the time Yoshiro Mori decided that we had to reset
02:54the relationship and since then it has only been you know on the path of progress. Of course 2014 we
03:01the relationship which was called the global and strategic partnership was made into a special
03:06global and strategic partnership and you know there has been a focus on both countries because
03:12we recognize the complementarities that are there. We understand that both of us have really
03:17coinciding perspectives on the world and therefore there is a lot of benefit not only to our two
03:23countries which is important but I think to Asia as a region and perhaps globally for both of us to
03:28work together. So there has been huge progress and particularly after 2014 starting with Prime Minister
03:34Modi's special relationship with Prime Minister Abe and I think each one of the summits has seen a lot
03:39of different areas that have come under the scope of the relationship and from the years that I've
03:45been there I think none as successful as this present summit because if you look at the outcomes
03:50that has come you know that have flown from this summit it really seems to have been a milestone one.
03:56Right. And how do you see the people to people connect because you know this again comes amid the
04:01backdrop when US is very rudely you know told that H-1B visa is nothing but a scam. You know at a time
04:09like this how do we cherish India Japan relation? I remember our last conversation you said how
04:15Shinju Abe's grandfather when he visited India he remember how respectful we were towards Japan because that
04:22was a pariah state and then you know we very much welcomed them with warmth and with very cordialness.
04:30How do you see both of these relationships in contrast especially I want you to talk about
04:35people to people connect? Yes Hina I'm sort of surprised and happy you remember that comment that
04:41I made before about you know Prime Minister Shinju Abe's grandfather and in many ways I mean made this a very
04:47special relationship but again our relationship it's a civilizational connect and it's a civilizational
04:52connect which we connect not only to Buddhism but also you know the various Hindu deities who are
04:58worshipped there. There is so much of India and Japan which was really quite a surprise to me when I
05:03went there as ambassador and therefore people to people connect is important because you know what
05:08why because I feel there's a huge information deficit between our two countries you know we have a good
05:14feeling about each other and if you ask Japanese about India you know he's very positive as are
05:20Indians about Japan but what do we really know about each other what do we really know about our
05:24cultural connects and I think this is an area where we must be working much more and what I do find and
05:30I'm very happy to find is that one of the outcome documents of this summit has been some an agreement
05:36and I think a memorandum of cooperation in the area of cultural exchanges which is really important
05:42um you know and and why is this uh you know information about people and our connect important
05:48because this really fosters people to people connections now one of the important aspects of
05:53this that we talk about really is now the complementarity in the terms of um the that Japan
05:59has a huge labor shortage and on the Indian side you know that you know we have a demographic dividend
06:05which is positive and you know we look at Japan and I think both the prime ministers talked about
06:11Japan being a country with huge financial and technological resources a powerhouse they call it
06:17and we are a talent powerhouses PM put it so you know there is a very very nice and you know comfortable
06:25fit between the two countries where Japan needs um IT engineers it needs people who are skilled and
06:32there we they look to India they also need semi-skilled people with soft skills who are able to work in
06:38other sectors and then also they welcome India which is a friendly country and as I said that you know
06:44connections between the two so on both fronts we've got to know more about each other we've got to you
06:48know appreciate each other and there is this huge area where we can work together there are already
06:53exchanges I think the numbers of Indians in Japan really have doubled over the last 10 years so I think
07:00people are moving but there have been two targets set up during this visit which are very significant
07:05one is that in the next five years that we will see an exchange of five lakh people between both
07:12the countries this is really an exchange and I think this would include tourists just to get to know each
07:17other better and the other is the other target that 50 000 people who are from India will be going
07:24to look and look not look for jobs but to be able to fill in that labour shortage that Japan has
07:30a very important place right and my final question to you ma'am would be you know Japan holds a very
07:35important place on the global map it is in East Asia and the Pacific Ocean which is a very important
07:39region you know security and defence wise how important is Japan to you know combat China's expansionist
07:47footprint in the region again I mean I think that's putting it in rather severe terms but certainly both
07:53India and Japan we recognize that the entire Pacific region which also includes the areas that you
08:01mentioned are important to us strategically and therefore both of our countries have to work together
08:07and therefore what you find is you know cooperation which really started from the joint declaration of
08:132008 where we started working in the area of defence and security ties and at this visit we have seen
08:20actually that we have upgraded in a way or reviewed that agreement to make it more in sync with
08:26contemporary realities and this is includes you know we have exchange among our three arms of the military
08:34we have exercises and I it's not really so much focused on China alone but it is the importance of this
08:42entire region for our economic security economic security is extremely important it's also part of the
08:48the security of any country and also our security relations so I think we should really contextualize
08:53it in that way yes they have concerns Japan has concerns we have concerns and I think the ultimate
09:00line is which was mentioned also during this uh this visit was that you know we all have to
09:05abide by international law and any country that wishes to transgress this I think we have to work
09:12together I think that's really the bottom line how India should look at the visit of prime minister
09:16and arrange Moody to China let's you know he's actually going for a multilateral conference which is
09:21the SEO summit but as you know uh in the last year probably started from last October uh you know when
09:28our leaders met in Kazan uh I think what we are seeing is certainly moves uh to be able to improve the
09:36relationship and get it back perhaps on on rails um after if I may say uh 2020 and everyone knows what
09:44happened in 2020 and we've certainly recently had foreign minister Bangi's visit and we are really
09:50looking to improve relations between the two countries and go back to understandings um in all on
09:57all fronts I mean the security front we have a border issue uh how can we resolve uh the issues
10:02particularly you know where there are low hanging fruits where issues can be resolved and so that
10:07differences don't lead to disputes um and the other thing is I think the economic side of the
10:13relationship where we all recognize that you know China is a very important economic uh partner of
10:18India and again I started off by talking about the geoeconomic and geopolitical journey in the world
10:24I think all of us would benefit in this part of world India Japan China the whole region would
10:28benefit by cooperating and working together and as far as uh prime minister Modi's visit to Japan is
10:35concerned I think at a time when India feels betrayed by us uh Japan is you know a country you know but
10:41I have to say one last word before I go because the station it you know I'm from Kerala myself and I must
10:47talk about a particular mention that was made by prime minister Ishiwa when he was talking to the business
10:53leaders and he talked about the importance of state to prefecture relations and he particularly talked about
11:00a relationship between a region of Japan called Sanin and Kerala and I'm happy to say that I was the one who
11:07had initiated that and I was very pleased to know that prime minister Ishiwa remembered it because he comes
11:13from a province called a prefecture called Totori which is in this region so I think that was a special message to people in Kerala
11:23foreign
Comments