Posted on 09/29/2006 5:28:00 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Shinzo Abe feels strongly for Japan-India ties
Tokyo, Sep 28 (IANS) Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe feels India and Japan have the potential to create a new phase in Asia's history.
"I am convinced that we have a lot to learn from India," Abe told the "Namaste India" festival here organised by the India Centre Foundation in Japan, just a day before he took over as the youngest-ever prime minister of this country.
"India can be a strong partner of Japan in creating a new phase in Asian history and we also need this partnership for our mutual development," Abe said at the event that marked the 10th anniversary of the India Centre Foundation in Japan.
The 52-year-old head of government also recalled his visit to India last year and his "highly satisfying" meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh - who is scheduled to visit Tokyo in December.
He also recalled the words of praise for India he had heard from his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi who, as Japan's prime minister, had visited India in 1957 and addressed a huge gathering at the Red Fort in New Delhi.
Abe also inaugurated an Internet portal - Voice of India - created in Japanese and English by the India Centre to push relations between India and Japan.
India Centre plans to publish it in the Chinese and Korean languages too, as part of its vision to promote a close alliance between India and all the countries of Far-East Asia and South-East Asia, officials said.
"Abe cancelled his other important engagements to be here. It shows how much he values our relationship with India," said Yoshiro Mori, a former prime minister, and added that his presence also showed his appreciation for the India Centre.
The "Namaste India" festival drew large weekend crowds Sep 23-24 - the number of visitors more than tripled from the 50,000 people who attended the event last year, officials at the India Centre here said.
The main attractions of the event this year were performances by sitar maestro Nishat Khan, Japanese Kathak exponent Masako Sato who learnt the art from Birju Maharaj, and another Japanese Odissi dancer Masako Ono.
A troupe from Mumbai that entertained the young crowd with choreographed dances to the tunes of Hindi film songs was also highly popular; so was the campaign by the Indian government to promote tourism.
This is very very important. Indo-Japanese-Israeli ties has the potential to become the strongest economic-military and geo-political relationship in Asia and can shape the future political boundaries in what will definitely be as tense a century as the previous one.
I know for a fact that Abe wants to make an Asian country the destination for his first foreign-trip as PM. The Chinese as usual will snub him India should accord him that respect and upstage the Chinese. It will mean a lot in terms of attracting further Japanese investment. East Asians in general care a lot about "izzat". If accorded this, they'll put everything we want on the table.
I hope Manmohan Singh will do something about this. Indo-Japanese ties will also be able to see huge weapons cooperation in Abe's term. He's going to change the Japanese constitution to let Japan take on countries like N. Korea. We will have lots to gain from this cooperation. The same for them.
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