- Japan has backed India’s stand on Doklam standoff.
- Japan’s move comes a month after Chinese daily warned India against banking on Tokyo.
- Japan is extending support to India against Chinese aggressive posturing over Doklam.
China is seemingly losing the diplomatic ‘war’ over Doklam. Japan has become the third influential country in the world to back India’s stand on Doklam standoff. In fact, Japan has shed the ambiguity that the US and the UK showed while backing India.
Japan’s all out support for India has come about a month after leading Chinese daily the Global Times warned New Delhi against banking on Tokyo in the event of a conflict over Doklam issue.
And, here is Japan extending wholehearted support for India against Chinese aggressive posturing over Doklam. “India should by no means count on support from the US and Japan because their support is illusory,” said an editorial in Global Times, a daily controlled by the Chinese government.
GROWING DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT FOR INDIA
Speaking at India Today Conclave in June, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had said, “India of 2017 is different from India of 1962.” The statement had come in the backdrop of Chinese rhetoric over Doklam standoff that India should learn from 1962 military debacle when the two countries fought a war.
China had taken the statement of the Defence Minister only in terms of India’s military might but ignored the diplomatic prowess of India.
Though most of the European countries are on “wait and watch” mode over Doklam standoff, support seems to be growing for India. While the US and the UK backed India’s stand of resolving the issue through dialogue while China pre-conditioned the talks with prior withdrawal of Indian troops from Doklam.
One US parliamentarian said earlier this month that China had taken certain provocative steps that have escalated into the current standoff on the plateau. The UK explicitly said that Doklam is a bilateral issue between India and China and needed to be resolved through dialogue. This is exactly what External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in Parliament while giving a statement on Doklam standoff.
But, Japan’s move seems to have taken China by surprise. Beijing has slammed Japan saying that Tokyo did not have the facts of Doklam right.
JAPAN’S SUPPORT IS NO SURPRISE
But, Japan’s support to India over Doklam standoff is not a surprise. In fact, it was Japan in January 2014 which asked India to forge a team to thwart Chinese expansionist moves in the East China Sea as well as in the Himalayas.
Japan’s call for a united opposition to Chinese moves had come in the backdrop of Beijing’s unilateral move to change status quo in the East China Sea where it had imposed Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
Japan’s Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera had then said, “Both Japan and India should ask for a dialogue with Chinese side and tell China not to change status quo by force. These issues should be solved through dialogue and following international rules.”
This time too, India has asked China to respect 2012-understanding, according to which, no country would alter the status quo unilaterally in the eastern sector of India-China border.
“For both India and Japan, China is an important neighbouring country. Both countries have important economic linkages with China. However, after the recent Chinese provocative actions, entire international community will have to send a message to China,” Japan’s Defence Minister had then said.
This time around, Japanese ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu has said that no country should try to change the status quo in Doklam. China has been insisting on constructing a highway through Doklam area of Bhutan claiming it to be its own territory.
JAPAN HAS ANOTHER REASON
Japan has another reason for supporting India against China. Beijing lays claim over its islands. In May this year, Japan scrambled its warplanes after four Chinese ships and a drone aircraft entered the Senkaku Islands.
Japan said that it was the first time Beijing has used an unmanned aircraft in Senkaku, which Chinese call as Diaoyu. Japan had then said that China was escalating the situation unilaterally and it was unacceptable to Tokyo. Japan understands that if China is allowed to have it say in Doklam, it may have to pay a price on Senkaku in the East China Sea.
Further, with China growing its might in the India-Pacific region, Japanese trade may be subject to whims and fancies of China.
A huge volume of Japanese trade passes through the Strait of Malacca over which China wants to have influence by luring Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. But, India continues to be the dominant naval power in the region. Japan finds a friendly India a profitable proposition than an adversarial China.
Source:-India Today
The post Why did Japan offer an all-out support to India over Doklam leaving China furious? appeared first on Indian Defence Update.
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