Last fortnight the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Shinzo Abe went on a whirlwind tour of three Asian countries, Indonesia, India and Malaysia, to strengthen economic and political ties with these countries. However many political analysts in Japan and India see this tour as an attempt to bolster the sagging image of his Liberal Democratic Party after its crushing defeat at the hands of the Democratic Party of Japan in the July House of Councilors elections.

After returning from his tour Mr. Abe reshuffled his cabinet bringing in old stalwarts and factional leaders to endorse his agenda and push reform bills in the wake of DJP’s uncompromising stand on many issues, including the US sponsored anti-terror law, which will come for renewal after its expiry on November 1, 2007. Critical of U.S. policies, the DJP leader Mr. Ichiro Ozawa has already voiced his opposition to the renewal of the anti-terror law, and both the US and the LDP are fully aware of the need to woo Mr. Ozawa on this issue. Mr. Abe’s reconstituted, lack luster cabinet may be a desperate attempt to make the best of a non-performing government.

During his Asia trip Mr. Abe wanted to draw maximum mileage from his India visit, but his timing was bad. He chose a time when the governing Congress-Communist UPA collation in India is rather beleaguered. Mr. Manmohan Singh has been caught between two fires, one from the opposition BJP party and the other from his collation partner, the Communist Party. Both are critical of Mr. Singh for not clearly spelling out the detrimental effects of the civilian nuclear transfer of technology deal with the United States. It would be foolhardy to believe that any negotiation between the Japanese and the Indian governments would be fruitful when their position itself is in jeopardy. To hope that any bilateral agreement drawn between the two prime ministers in the areas of commerce, education or politics would be approved in the Japanese Diet or the Indian Parliament would be asking for too much. Only work on existing projects like the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project can be reiterated by the two leaders.

Mr. Abe has been undeterred by the many obstacles he and his party face both within and abroad. He wants to cash on the highly positive image of India that has grown in Japan in the last few years. India is seen as a country with great IT and mathematical skills that must be tapped for Japan’s benefit. With this view in mind Mr. Abe’s entourage had not only members from the defense and trade sectors but also from the education department as well. They were there to woo everyone who was seen as brilliant – from high-profile bureaucrats to students and businessmen. Mr. Abe’s attempt to see India both as a “partner” and “friend” must be seen in this context.

Japan feels it is doing well in trade with India, given the large amounts of ODA it has given to India recently. India is not impressed by Japan’s weak gestures. It feels that Japan is not doing enough to further bilateral trade. And rightly so! Japan conducts more trade with neighboring China than it does with faraway India. Last year itself Japanese trade with China stood at a whooping 25.4 trillion yen, while its trade with India was a miserable 745 billion yen. In other words Japan’s trade with India was 2.9 percent of its trade with China.

India does not seem to be a viable option for Japanese tourists, students or private investors. There is little accurate and trustworthy information about India in Japan. Most of the information in the Japanese language seems to be a rehash of popular newspaper articles. India is still not a great place for foreign investors or companies to do business. In a recent World Bank report called “Doing Business 2007” based on ten criteria, ranging from ease of initiating business and getting credit to enforcing contractual deals and exiting out, India ranked 134th out of 175 countries, while Japan came 11th and China 93rd. The top three countries in the report were Singapore, New Zealand and the United States. Japanese investors have yet to develop skills to understand the legality of contracts if their business must succeed in India and exiting strategies if their business does not do well. Indian businessmen and students have to overcome the linguistic barrier and function effectively within the somewhat narrow immigration laws of Japan.

Since education has been the prime focus of Abe’s administration, the accompanying members of the Education, Science and Technology Ministry met with representatives of Indian universities on August 21, 2007 to woo the best Indian students to come to Japan, especially to its most prestigious universities where the numbers of Indian students is just a handful. Tokyo University has been under pressure from many western countries for its reluctance to internationalize quickly.

This year the UK based, The Times placed Tokyo University in the 19th place, much below Peking University, amongst the top 200 universities of the world. The main reason cited was its slowness to internationalize.

The university has taken this to heart. It has now decided to open a recruiting office in New Delhi, which can be used by any other Japanese university, to persuade the best India students to come to Japan. This will be a daunting task for Japan as Japan wants only the best students from India. Most students from elite institutions like IITs, IIMs or St. Stephen’s College get admission to American universities with full scholarship even before they complete their graduation. It would be difficult for Japan to lure such students. India however has 369 universities and 18064 colleges where over 11 million students study. A lot of students who come from mediocre academic backgrounds would be keen to come to Japan and invest their time and energy in learning the Japanese language. But would Japan want such students! It must however be understood that universities do not excel just getting more students but recruiting capable teachers. The history of renowned colleges in India such as St. Stephen’s to St. Xavier’s would prove the point.

Mr. Abe has time and again reiterated that he wants to embark on the noble project of “nation building,” and creating a “beautiful Japan.” This nationalist agenda has allowed the LDP to promote greater military independence, question Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and ignore social security, pension reform and declining birth rate that affects the common people. Mr. Abe also wants to bring “education reforms” and instill “traditional values” in young people so they can become more patriotic. It is difficult to synthesize nationalist agenda with a truly internationalist education.

Obviously some work of noble note was conducted on the 23rd August 2007 when both the prime ministers signed an agreement ostentatiously called “On the Roadmap for New Dimensions to the Strategic and Global Partnership Between Japan and India.” Both the prime ministers have approached each other’s favorite agenda with diplomatic reserve. Mr. Manmohan Singh was keen that Mr. Abe approved the Indo-US Nuclear Deal which Mr. Abe was most unwilling to do. Mr. Abe was keen to rope in Mr. Singh to accept the Cool Earth 50 program that would force India to halve the green house gas emissions by 2050; Mr. Singh is first interested in economic development and then in environmental protection.

There was so much of brotherhood and bonhomie between the Japanese and Indian delegations, but everyone in the end realized that good intentions are not enough.

September 1, 2007

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