Ex-Envoy Deepa Wadhwa Praises India-Japan Partnership, But Warns of Cultural ‘Information Deficit’ Among People

Asianet News English

In an exclusive interview with Asianet News English, Former Indian Ambassador to Japan Deepa Wadhwa applauds the strong India-Japan bilateral relationship, especially as PM Modi visits Tokyo and meets Japanese PM Ishiba. She highlights the significance of strategic and economic cooperation while cautioning about an ‘information deficit’ that affects deeper cultural exchange between the two nations. Ambassador also shares a special message to the people of Kerala. Watch this exclusive conversation exploring challenges and opportunities in India-Japan relations as both countries strive for stronger people-to-people connections alongside growing diplomatic ties.&nbsp;

Transcript

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

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