Great Wall Around A Lotus Blossom

The India­Japan summit is ripe with possibilities, but China casts an unblinking eye on proceedings.

- Pranay Sharma

A coincidence, as they say in diplomacy, needs a lot of work. A crucial meeting between the ‘special representatives’ of India and China, barely a week before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Tokyo for the annual bilateral summit with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, might be a coincidence, but is not without significance.

The forthcoming summit has generated much enthusiasm in New Delhi and Tokyo as it is widely speculated that the much­awaited Indo­Japan nuclear agreement will be signed during Modi’s visit. The deal has the potential to change not only relations between the two countries; it can also pave the way for setting up American nuclear reactors in India and give the much required push to the stalled civil nuclear energy sector in the country.

“If the nuclear agreement happens it will be a real big step in Indo­Japan relations,” says Deepa Wadhwa, who was India’s ambassador to Japan till November last year. 

But given the complexities of Sino­Japanese relations, especially their conflicting positions over developments in the East China Sea and islands in it, India’s growing ties with Japan are an area of concern for Beijing. What Modi wants to achieve and says during his Japan visit will be keenly watched by the Chinese.