China-Japan-South Korea Leadership Summit

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak held a leadership summit at the international convention center at Jeju Island in South Korea recently. It was the third round of two-day China-Japan-South Korea leadership summit. At this summit the three countries passed the '2020 China-Japan-South Korea Cooperation Outlook.' The leaders said they would uphold history, face up to the future and persevere to promote good-neighborly trilateral relationship toward mutual trust, full cooperation among one another and to strive toward common development direction.

Crisis in Korean Peninsula
While the time, place and agenda of the third China-Japan-South Korea leader meeting have already been finalized, but because of the recent Cheonan fleet dispute in the Korean Peninsula, no one could expect in advance whether the meeting would come out with the expected results because the international community and media were watching and showing concern of the eminent crisis in the Korean Peninsula then.

Nevertheless, after the end of the meeting the gestures of cooperation as reflected by the three leaders and the concrete results obtained at the meeting have reflected the fact that the three countries would not let the Koran Peninsula issue to become a stumbling block for their further development and advancement in the triangular relationship.

Objective and Impartial Judgment
In recent years, it is a fact that China and South Korea have developed increasingly closer contact. However, the relationship between China and South Korea can never be compared with the 'clan' type of close relationship between China and North Korea. As such whether China would side North Korea over the Cheonan Incident has become the focus point of the three-leader summit. At the pre leadership summit, Wen Jiabao has already made clear to Lee Myung-bak that China would deal with the Cheonan Incident based on objective and impartial judgment. According to Chinese official news, China would not shelter any guilty party. The pragmatic and rationale attitude expressed by China over the Cheonan Incident was one of the reasons contributed to the successful holding of the meeting, and resulted in fruitful discussion.

The three leaders did not openly condemn North Korea, but agreed that the attacks on Cheonan fleet incident had caused casualties and was a serious incident that could affect Asian peace and stability. They sent their condolences to the victim families. Both the Chinese and Japanese leaders attached importance to joint investigation on the Cheonan Incident conducted by South Korea and other countries and noted the various responses. The leaders said the three countries would maintain communication, to properly deal with this incident, so that regional peace and stability could be maintained.

Free Trade Agreement
On economic cooperation, the three countries also agreed to strive forth that before the end of this year, to come out with the 'China-Japan -South Korea Investment Agreement' and that by 2012 the China-Japan-South Korea Free Trade Agreement can be materialized. In addition, the three countries will also expand and simplify the business environment in their respective countries at the same time establishing a mechanism to facilitate efficient transportation and logistic management. The three countries will also strengthen financial cooperation of financial institutions in one other's financial market.

It is understood that the total gross economic output of China, Japan and South Korea accounted for 70 percent of the total Asian economies. As of 2008, the combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the three countries accounted for about 17 percent of the world economy; and the total value was $4.5 trillion. This accounted for 14 percent of total world trade. The data show that when the three countries further strengthen their economic and trade cooperation, it is not only conducive to economic development in Asia; it will also contribute to world economic recovery and prosperity.

The conclusion of the China-Japan-South Korean leader summit also resulted in the leaders' making a decision to set up the 'China-Japan-South Korea Coordination Secretariat' in South Korea in 2011. With such a permanent Secretariat mechanism in place, the three countries should be able to push their trilateral cooperation to a higher level. When the Secretariat is in place, it will also allow the cooperation among the three countries to become more solid than the current stage. This, in turn, will allow the three countries to face a more future-oriented and all-round cooperative partnership in various fields. Such development will also allow the mutually beneficial cooperation in different fields to become more fruitful. In the process the friendly feelings between the people of the three countries will also become more profound.

Differences and Contradiction
Of course the various historical factors and the contemporary reality factors, coupled with the different national core interest of the three countries will allow the trilateral cooperation mechanism formed by the three countries to become a kind of relationship that: 'amid cooperation, there will be competition, and that among the consensus there will be differences.'

However, just as the Chinese philosopher Confucius said: 'Gentlemen will maintain harmony with others but will not agree to differences, but the opposite kind of people will agree to differences but will not keep harmony.' We trust that no matter how many differences and contradiction exist among China, Japan and South Korea, as long as they can resolve their conflicts and disputes through using the dialogue and non-confrontational channel, the three countries can establish the type of gentleman relationship of 'keeping harmony amid differences.' This kind of trilateral relationship should be strong and can withhold the test of time.

Change of Guard in Japan: Naoto Kan Elected Prime Minister

Naoto Kan, Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader, was voted in as the country's new prime minister on 4 June, with his Cabinet to be launched early next week roughly one month out from an expected upper house election. Both upper and lower houses of parliament separately as elected Kan as the new premier in a majority vote, replacing Yukio Hatoyama, who abruptly announced his resignation on 2 June, only about eight months after sweeping to power.

Introduction to Kan
The 63-year-old Kan, who was deputy prime minister and finance minister in the Hatoyama Cabinet, became Japan's 94th leader, at a time when the country is struggling with a two-decade-old economic slump and filled with public mistrust in politics. Kan, the fifth prime minister since 2006, intends to launch a new Cabinet on 8 June.

According to a senior DPJ lawmaker, Kan is planning to name Yoshito Sengoku, who was state minister in charge of designing national strategy, as the government's top spokesman. Kan agreed with the DPJ's small coalition partner, the People's New Party, that the two will continue to form a government together.

Kan is Japan's first prime minister in 14 years who was not born into a long-established political family, unlike many of his immediate predecessors, including Hatoyama and Taro Aso, whose grandfathers were also prime ministers.

The fact that Kan is not a hereditary politician will likely help increase his party's popularity, as many voters are tired of seeing prime ministers who hail from elite families resigning one after another. But the leadership change is unlikely to lead to a major shift in Japan's economic and foreign policies.

Kan has said he will continue the unfinished work of Hatoyama, while doing his utmost to restore public confidence in the DPJ ahead of the House of Councillors election expected in July.
Kan said his first job as prime minister would be to ''rebuild the country,'' in a speech following his 291-to-129 victory in a DPJ presidential election earlier in the day over sole contender Shinji Tarutoko, a less well-known DPJ lower house member who called for ''a generational change'' in party leadership. He also called for unity within the ruling party in the run-up to the upper house election.

Previous Cabinet's Unpopularity
Attention is focused on to what extent Kan, an activist-turned politician, will be able to lessen the influence of Ichiro Ozawa, the outgoing DPJ secretary general, when he runs the government. One of the major reasons for the previous Cabinet's unpopularity was money scandals associated with Ozawa, regarded as the most powerful figure in the DPJ, who has decided to resign with Hatoyama.

Many of those who supported Tarutoko in the election are affiliated politically with Ozawa, who heads an interparty group of about 150 lawmakers, by far the biggest in the ruling party.
The decision to pick Sengoku, who is known to be critical of Ozawa, as chief Cabinet secretary suggests that Kan is trying to create an image that the new government is distancing itself from the kingmaker.

Hatoyama and his entire Cabinet stepped down together in the morning, ahead of the Diet's vote on the new leader in the afternoon, after floundering in public opinion polls, caused by his mishandling of where to relocate a key US military base in Okinawa Prefecture and money scandals.

The Hatoyama Cabinet was formed after the DPJ's landslide victory in last summer's House of Representatives election, which ended more than half a century of almost continuous rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

But Hatoyama decided to resign because of growing concerns about the potential loss of many DPJ seats in the forthcoming upper house election. If all goes smoothly, Kan will deliver his policy speech and take questions from ruling and opposition party representatives in the Diet soon.

Officially, Kan will assume the premiership upon an appointment ceremony at the Imperial Palace, and until then Hatoyama will continue serving as premier. The schedule for the ceremony has not been decided, yet.

Challenges Ahead
As the country's sixth prime minister since 2006, Kan has to ensure his party's success in upper house elections scheduled in mid-July so as to guarantee the smooth passage of bills. During Hatoyama's eight-month tenure, the DPJ had to woo a coalition with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Japan New Party to assure a majority in the upper house. But the ruling coalition has fallen apart.

The SDP joined the opposition and the image of the DPJ became increasingly sullied in the minds of the people, following Hatoyama's backtracking on a campaign pledge to move an unpopular US marine base off the southern island of Okinawa.

In the coming election, it will be difficult for the DPJ to hold its 54 seats in the upper house. A 'twisted parliament' seen in the past when then the opposition Democrats and their allies won control of the upper house may return, allowing the opposition to delay bills and jam the government's policy plans.

Handling Japan-US Relations
Another challenge for the new prime minister is how to handle Japan-US relations. When the opposition, the DPJ repeatedly criticized the ruling LDP for blindly following the United States and called for a equal relation with the US. In fact, there are no differences in principle between the two parties in protecting and strengthening the Japan-US alliance.

The failure of the outgoing cabinet to relocate the U.S. air base to a coastal area within the Okinawa Prefecture suggests that politicians' promises could be dishonored and that the interests of the people on Okinawa could be ignored but the Japan-US alliance has to be protected. Kan also has to understand that for his junior cabinet to stay in office longer, he has to formulate effective economic policies so as to escort the infancy of Japan's economic recovery into real growth.

Japan Unveils Base Move Within Okinawa

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on 23 May unveiled for the first time his government's plan to relocate a US Marine base within Okinawa and apologized for his failure to make good on his earlier vow to move the military facility outside the prefecture.

He said the relocation within the prefecture was a ''heartbreaking'' decision to achieve the return of land occupied by the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to locals and extended his ''heartfelt apology for causing much confusion'' among Okinawans in the process of reaching that conclusion.

Lack of Leadership
Public support for Hatoyama's government has nosedived due to his perceived lack of leadership on Futenma and other issues, making ruling coalition parties jittery ahead of a House of Councillors election expected in July.Nakaima expressed his ''extreme regret'' over the government's decision and said he considers it ''extremely difficult'' to go ahead with the plan, because expectations had mounted among local residents that Hatoyama would try to transfer functions of Futenma out of the southwesternmost prefecture.''

The gap between people's expectations (and the latest government decision) is huge. I expect the premier to take time to offer further explanations and work out a solution that would satisfy us,'' the governor told Hatoyama.Nakaima also told reporters later he feels the premier has ''betrayed'' Okinawa residents.

In the meeting, Hatoyama also said he will ask other Japanese prefectures at a meeting of governors on 20 May to accept some of the U.S. military drills currently conducted in Okinawa.

The prime minister said the government has given up on the plan to transfer Futenma's heliport functions out of Okinawa due to ''remaining uncertainties in East Asia,'' especially on the Korean Peninsula.'' As a prime minister, I have to say we cannot allow the situation in which deterrence provided by the US forces in Japan will diminish,'' he said.

Aim of Japan-US Accord
Hatoyama later told reporters the government will try to continue negotiations with the United States to implement measures to ease base-hosting burdens on Okinawa beyond his self-imposed deadline of May 31 for settling the issue.

Japan and the United States broadly agreed on 22 May on a fresh accord expected to be announced on 21 May, which effectively states the Futenma facility in the populous city of Ginowan will be moved to land to be created through filling in the sea near the Marines' Camp Schwab at Cape Henoko in Nago, sources close to the matter said.

The fresh agreement is effectively on par with an existing relocation plan under a 2006 Japan-US accord aimed at transferring the Futenma functions within Okinawa, while relocating around 8,000 Marines to Guam from there, both by 2014. Nakaima told of his displeasure at the government's attitude in offering explanations to Okinawa after reaching a framework agreement with Washington.

Facing Strong Backlash
Approximately 1,000 local protesters staged a rally outside of the prefectural government office, calling on Hatoyama to abandon the plan to relocate the base within the prefecture. Many of them held up a card bearing a Chinese character for ''anger.'' During his one-day trip, the prime minister also met with Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine and 11 other local municipality heads in Nago and faced a strong backlash from the mayor, who was elected in January on his opposition to the Futenma relocation plan.

Okinawa hosts about 75 percent of the land area used for the US military facilities in Japan and half of the roughly 50,000 US service personnel in the country.The premier repeated his apology before leaving Okinawa in the evening, telling reporters that he ''sincerely regrets'' his failure to meet growing expectations for the base removal among Okinawans.

Malaysia Should Expand Geographical Scope of Look East Policy

When Prime Minister Najib returned to Malaysia from his official trip to Japan, he said he was impressed by the Japanese's meticulous, detailed and serious working attitude. He said the sharp precision of the characteristics of the Japanese society was the attribute that led to the success for Japan. Prime Minister Najib said such characteristics of the Japanese society should be a model for Malaysians to emulate. Prime Minister Najib also called on Malaysians to abandon the easy going attitude and learn the positive working attitude of the Japanese in order to become an advanced country.

Moreover, Prime Minister Najib said that both the Japanese and Malaysian government felt the need to revive and revamp the Look East Policy and in the new and innovative fields, strengthen bilateral exchange cooperation and opportunities in what all world nations consider as cutting edge technologies, green industries and other bio-technological fields.

Therefore, there is a need and urgency for Malaysia and Japan to strengthen new cooperation projects. He said on international commitment to resist global warming, it was particularly important for Malaysia and Japan to work together and make commitment to reduce gas emission and to conserve energy. He said such cooperation with Japan should help Malaysia to accelerate the pace in development of low-carbon green industries.

Cooperation Mechanism
As a matter of fact, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama also suggested that Malaysia and Japan should establish new exchange mechanism in the university and academic fields. In response, Prime Minister Najib welcomed the Japan national leader's suggestion and described such a cooperation mechanism could become the sustainable legacy of both countries. He added that as Malaysia is now going through the process of economic transformation, Japan's suggestion to deepen the bi-lateral academic exchange mechanism to enhance research and development in various academic fields would carry with it significant meaning.

In the 80's the Look East policy as a familiar slogan for all Malaysians. This Look East policy encouraged Malaysians to learn from Japan. Since former premier Mahathir Mohamed mooted this Look East Policy in 1982, this policy has already produced as many as 15,000 Malaysian graduates from Japanese and South Korean universities.

Many Malaysians have also gone to these two countries to receive all types of technical trainings. Under this Look East policy, Malaysia has, in the pasts 28 years, succeeded to attract many leading Japan and South Korea corporations to invest and set up their plants in Malaysia. These Japan and South Korea corporations have benefited Malaysia's industrial development. Among them there were many large scale joint venture projects between Malaysia and the Japanese or South Korean firms. Such joint venture has given birth to Malaysia's Proton, the national car project.

Najib's Visit to Japan
After Prime Minister Najib's visit to Japan, in addition to Malaysia and Japan's cooperation in industrial, commercial and academic fields, we feel there is also a need for the Malaysian Government to deepen the learning process of Japanese style of high efficient management and Japanese workers' disciplined and highly responsible work ethic as well as the Japanese's commitment to strive forth for progressive innovation. Japan's noble moral concept and its people's courageous spirit to venture and explore into new fields can help to reinforce the implementation of Prime Minister Najib's economic restructuring model and to put emphasis on Najib Government's national building motto that stresses on performance first.

Moreover, Malaysian Government should further explore the way how we can implement the essence of the good qualities of the Japanese and Koreans and inject these good qualities into the local universities and the massive civil workforce. These good qualities can help to stimulate the creativity and momentum of Malaysians in various research and development fields and to ensure that Malaysia can fulfill its vision objective to become an advanced country in 2020 as planned.

In addition, the implant of the good qualities of the people in Japan and South Korea can also help Malaysia to build a public administration mechanism that is highly effective, serious in the management and with macro and open mindset workforce. Through this process, Malaysia can hope to get rid of the unhealthy bureaucratic culture, corrupt practice and a civil workforce with outdated mindset but without a good disciple to work hard diligently.

Role of China
The target of Malaysian Government's Look East policy is Japan and South Korea. However, with the change in time, Malaysian Government should begin to explore and expand the geographical scope of this Look East Policy beyond Japan and South Korea. This is especially so now that China has emerged as the world largest economy and on international trade and economy, military affairs and diplomatic arena, the role of China has become more and more important and influential with the advance in time.

Similarly, in the case of Taiwan, the research and development of Taiwan's computer hardware and software and the production of them are at a world leading standard. The success of Taiwan and China in many research and development fields can serve as learning models for Malaysia to follow. As Malaysia's enterprises are now facing critical global challenge, Malaysia absolutely cannot ignore the importance of the China and Taiwan platforms.

Repositioning Look East Policy
In the process of globalization, China plays an important role and part. As a matter of fact, the Indian Government is also gradually pushing ahead and gradually implementing its own forward-looking "Look East" policy. Through India's cooperative attitude and competitiveness, the Indian Government now focuses in strengthening its Look East process by engaging China in the cooperation in science and technology, culture, education, security, and exchanges in diverse areas so as to create a mutually beneficial balance with China.

China and India's economy have entered a rapid development stage. These two countries assume important role in Asian region's economic integration process. Since the ASEAN Ten Plus China Free Trade Area was formally established at the beginning of this year, this free trade agreement signifies that the greater East Asia economic integration age with ASEAN as hub of economic activities has arrived.

As Malaysia explores and repositioning its Look East policy, the step to include China, Taiwan and Hong Kong into the geographical scope of the Look East policy will help the Malaysia-China bilateral relationship to enter a more dynamic and lively phase. Through cooperation and understanding of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong's economic development, Malaysia can come out with a more forward looking new economic layout to effectively deal with the enormous economic integration, challenges and opportunities within the region.

Nuclear Security Summit Fails To Give Participants Enough Room for Discussion

The so called two-day Nuclear Security Summit, held in Washington recently, aimed to discuss nuclear weapon and nuclear material control and management hosted by the United States was but a venue used by President Barack Obama to express his view. There were no vigorous discussions among the participants and the conclusion of the Summit has already pre decided before the Summit began.

Most of the heads of states and senior officials from 47 countries who flew into the United States from far away land were not given the opportunity to say more words. The Nuclear Security Summit ended without giving participants enough room for discussion.

Platform for President Obama
This was not but another Obama Show. Except for Chinese President Hu Jintao who was granted more time to express his view, other participating head of states have given outsiders an impression that they rushed to the United States just to listen to President Obama's instruction. The moment President Obama finished all that he wanted to say, this round of international conference on a serious topic was considered done.

In this regard, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has the foresightedness than other international participants. He used the excuse of being too busy with the general election and declined to accept the invitation to attend the Nuclear Security Summit. While we can say Gordon Brown is indeed busy with electoral affairs, but it was also a smart side of him to use such an excuse to avoid listening to President Obama's lecture.

Among the international participants, the national leader who encountered a sense of loss was the Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama. He was given a cold shoulder by President Obama even before the Nuclear Security Summit began. When Hatoyama arrived in Washington, DC his scheduled meeting with President Obama was listed as the least important one among other heads of states that President Obama scheduled to meet.

The meeting between Obama and Hu Jintao lasted more than an hour with discussion covering US-China trade and Iran's nuclear weapon development suspicion. This meeting with Hu Jintao has reflected the reality that President Obama did value China and the presence of Hu at the Summit.

Obama-Hatoyama Meeting
However, President Obama's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama only lasted for ten minutes. The Japanese media described this Obama-Hatoyama meeting was but hand shaking, greetings and photo taking session. President Obama has clearly indicated to the Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama his attitude that between them, there was nothing to talk about. It was a rare sight in US-Japan diplomatic relations that happened in an important international event such as the Nuclear Security Summit. The underlying causes could be due the fact that back in Japan the high support rate of the Hatoyama government has dropped to a level when there are more opposing voices than supporting voices.

In addition to this political dilemma, on diplomatic front, the Japan under the Hatoyama Government has also shown its intention to keep a distance away from the United States. We believe President Obama has no intention to undermine the close friendship between Japan and the United States. The intention of President Obama is that instead of spending time to talk to the present Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama, he would rather wait until the next Japanese prime minister emerges and takes office to discuss serious stuff with Japan.

Advantage for South Korea
Hatoyama suffered even more cruel treatment during this visit to the United States when President Obama announced that the next Nuclear Security Summit to be held two years later would be presided by the Republic of Korea and not Japan. This announcement allowed South Korean President Lee Myung-bak to radiant with delight.

President Obama's choice of South Korea as the next Summit venue has allowed South Korea to enjoy the glory of handling this diplomatic event. However, at the same time, it has also reflected the political reality that President Obama has indeed given Hatayama an unfriendly or a rather rude diplomatic treatment.

Japan, Palestine Create Cooperation

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama recently had a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Tokyo when the Palestinian leader visited to Japan recently.
The peace process in West Asia and friendship between Japan and Palestine became the major discussion topics during the meeting of the two leaders.

West Asia Peace Process
During the meeting, Hatoyama expressed Japan's readiness to assist Palestine to build its economy on its own and manage various institutions. This is to help Palestine to stand as an independent country one day later.
The Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia, Masahiko Horie said, in order to achieve that objective, Japan and Palestine agreed to work together and set up the Corridor of Peace and Prosperity or Agro Industry Park in Jericho, West Bank.
In the meeting, Hatoyama also expressed the wish to work together with East Asian countries in contributing to peace in West Asia.
"In Hatoyama's opinion, East Asian countries can step up their roles in accordance with their respective economic and political status in the international arena to help in the peace process of West Asia," he said. Horie said so in a letter sent to Utusan Malaysia recently to inform about the meeting between Hatoyama and Abbas in Tokyo.

Joint Statement
In the joint statement, Hatoyama called on Israel to stop all occupation activities in the territory of Palestine. He also expressed Japan's commitment in extending aids to people of the Gaza Strip.
The statement adds, in the meeting, Hatoyama and Abbas had reached an agreement that the peace talk between Israel and Palestine which had been delayed for almost one year should be resumed. The Israel-Palestine peace talk has halted since the end of 2008 when Israel launched attacks lasted for three weeks against the Gaza Strip. The attacks killed 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israeli citizens.
The Defense Minister of Israel, Ehud Barak described the absence of a peace treaty with Palestine as a bigger threat against the future of the Jewish country than any 'bomb from Iran'.
The joint statement of Hatoyama and Abbas added, Japan and Palestine also reached an agreement to implement several measures under the Japan-Palestine Program to Make Palestine an Advanced Country.
"Among the measures is that Japan will deploy a special mission to Palestine to study the needs and assistance Palestine needs from Japan in the aspects of institution and capacity building.
Other measure is to have discussion with Israel and Jordan next month to develop Jericho and valley area in Jordan as tourist spots," said the statement.
In addition, the statement also mentions that the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and representatives from Palestine will increase the efforts to promote trade and investment in Palestine.
In the joint statement, Hatoyama and Abbas also voiced their objection against using nuclear weapons and expressed their commitment in improving the friendly ties between Japan and Palestine.
The relations between Japan and Palestine are not something new. According to the website of the Foreign Ministry of Japan, Japan has been active in providing various kinds of aids to the people of Palestine since 1993, which include humanitarian aids, reconstruction, confidence building program and various types of aids so that Palestine could enjoy a sustainable economy.

Oppression of People
Japan is also one of the biggest donor country to Palestine with more than $1 billion aids extended since 1993. This was the second time Abbas, also known as Mahmoud Abbas, visited to Japan since he became the Palestinian President in 2005. In addition, Japan, Abbas also visited to Korea. Japan's concern over Palestine could to a certain extent help to reduce the burden of the Palestinian people who have lived under oppression over the years.
The international community should emulate Japan's concern over Palestine. Japan has been wishing to see the Palestinian people to live independently like citizens of other countries and the hope of peace in West Asia come true.

Dream of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Becoming Reality

The issue of a corridor joining the political and financial capitals of India (New Delhi, Mumbai) is under discussion for several years, but with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's India visit, for the first time it appears to be getting ready to take shape on the ground. Both countries have agreed to create an Rs.100 billion fund with equal partnership that would be used to prepare concrete details of this corridor.

Backbone of Corridor
The backbone of this corridor would be a rail line fully dedicated to freight trains between Delhi and Mumbai. But the real aspect would be the proposed industrial infrastructure along this track that could be considered as the country's biggest infrastructure project with an estimated cost of $90 billion.
This would include six industrial areas of 200 sq km each, three new seaports, and six airports. On one end of the corridor would be the Noida-Dadri area of Uttar Pradesh apart from Delhi, while on the other end would be Igatpuri-Nasik-Sinnar region of Maharashtra. In between, there would be Manesar-Bawal of Haryana, Khushkheda-Bhiwadi-Nimrana of Rajasthan, Pitampur-Dhar-Mhow of Madhya Pradesh, and Bharuch-Dahej of Gujarat.
Ten cities of the country with a population of more than one million would directly benefit from this industrial corridor, and there would be the possibility of setting up new industrial cities along the corridor. If the dream of bringing this project on the ground by 2012 is fulfilled, it could be extended in the second phase from Bengaluru to Chennai. This project could play a decisive role in giving a boost to the position where India is standing at the moment in the matter of economic development.

Good Development
There has been good development here of roads, airlines, automobile, telecom, media, and real estate in the past one decade, but in comparison, no new ground has been broken in the manufacturing sector. It is good that people start living in good houses, buy good items, talk a lot on phones, and drive their cars on smooth roads, but they would be able to do these things for a long time only when at least 10 times more people get new opportunities of small trades and employment.
If this does not take place for some reason, social structure gets inverted and people start behaving like a mob of parasites, forgetting about production.

Benefit for Western India
With implementation of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, we can hope to begin the treatment of this disease in time. Similarly, in the manner in which this project would benefit western India, concrete initiative should be taken on a Ludhiana-Kolkata corridor breathing new life in eastern India.

India’s Firm Policy on Nuclear Non-Proliferation

Reiterating its stand on nuclear non-proliferation, India has once again declared that it will not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Pressure has been consistently brought upon India to affix its signature on the CTBT, but India stuck to its stand that unless and until nuclear weapons are destroyed it will not sign any such treaty. India has now clarified it to Japan that it will consider signing the CTBT only after the United States and China sign the same.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reiterated India's stand to Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama during his recently concluded India visit. He was speaking to journalists after exchanging views with him on nuclear non-proliferation and civilian nuclear agreements. He further clarified that India, for the sake of universal welfare, is willing to side with Japan and other like-minded nations but the pressure being brought on it to sign the CTBT was not acceptable to it. He said: "Our policy on this subject is fully clear and we continue to be firm on it."

Commitment to Self-Imposed Restriction
The Japanese prime minister said that nothing can be said on the differences between the countries over the CTBT now. He, however, expressed the hope that India would also join the United States in becoming a signatory to the treaty. Sooner or later, such a hope can be entertained. Here its needs to be noted that in the wake of Singh's statement urging the United States and China to sign the treaty, Yukio Hatoyama observed: "This would lead to the emergence of a fresh scenario. I feel this is true also. We honor India's commitment to the self-imposed restriction regarding the nuclear proliferation."
Lauding the Indian approach on the nuclear non-proliferation, the Japanese prime minister commented that India had a highly commendable track record. Prior to it, Singh made it fully clear to him that India was constrained to tread the path of making nuclear weapons in 1998, keeping in view the then prevalent conditions in the context of the global scenario. The Indian Government exercised restraint for a long time with regard to nuclear weapons. Nevertheless, India had to take to the course of making nuclear weapons for self-defense for the surrounding countries had already started treading such a path.
In 1998 India tested a nuclear explosion. Prior to it, it clarified its policy that in case all nuclear-weapon countries destroy their nuclear weapons then India will not take to this course. When none of the nuclear weapon country agreed to do so then it became imperative for India not to sign the CTBT for the sake of its self-defense.

Proxy War From Kashmir Border
India's neighboring countries, Pakistan and China, are in possession of vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons. India always made all out endeavors to maintain cordial relations with neighboring nations, yet the fact remains that these very countries launched invasions on India. China carried out an aggression against India in 1962 and occupied the entire Tibet region by capturing it. Likewise, in 1965 and 1971, Pakistan fought two full-fledged direct wars against India, in addition to the Kargil War. Pakistan persists with its almost regular proxy war from the Kashmir border. Under the circumstances, it became imperative for India to make nuclear weapons and it did so as well. Now that pressure is being brought on India to sign the CTBT, how can it do so as long as superpowers such as the United States and China do not sign it?
Now, in the context of the sanctions imposed by Japan in the high technology trade with India, the Japanese prime minister said talks had been held with India on the issue and something positive was certain to emerge in the near future. Consensus has been reached to enhance security cooperation and an official-level meeting will be held soon. Hence, it can be hoped that China, appreciating the Indian viewpoint, will value the Indian policy and mindset. However, future alone will unfold the policy to be adopted by China toward India.

India-Japan Getting Toward Powerful Friend

"My shoes are Japanese" is a very popular song of 1950s. But even today, children hum its tune with the same ardor. The word "Japanese" might have been familiar to Indians but the country itself seemed to be a small island in Asia. Its economic progress has created history.
Japan was thoroughly ruined by US nuclear bombs. Yet, it later formed an alliance with that very country to take the manufacturing sector by storm. As a result, Japan has turned into a global economic powerhouse, to become the second most powerful economy. China and India are today competing to become a superpower in Asia. But Japan was the first country in the region to have a successful record of modernization.
If friendship between India and Japan had not reached the expected level, the United States has to be partly blamed for it. Our relations with Japan at this stage cannot actually be described as "cordial." But relations change with time. US-Japan relationship is no longer the same. China is determined to replace Japan as the second most powerful economy. Its growing military strength is giving jitters to Japan about a future crisis. At the same time, under Obama's leadership the United States has decided to accept China as the leader in Asia. The need to create a balance of power in the continent has, therefore, drawn Japan toward India.

Signing CTBT

During Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's recent India visit, differences surfaced between the two countries over India having not signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Yet, it carries out much significance because 45 countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) have adopted a considerably soft approach toward India. Most of them have signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreement also, under which they have promised to supply raw material for nuclear plants in India. This has been made possible as a consequence of the India-US nuclear deal during the Bush Administration. When in 1998, India conducted a nuclear experiment, a majority of the nuclear fuel supplier countries imposed major sanctions against India. These included Japan also.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Hatoyama exchanging views on the CTBT in New Delhi was quite on the predictable lines. The Japanese, being the first and only victims of the nuclear bomb, do not miss an opportunity to advocate for a strict control on the proliferation of nuclear weapon technology. But India cannot be blamed for the CTBT not coming into force. As Dr Manmohan Singh made it clear, a new situation will arise when the US and China first ratify the CTBT. Only then can anybody raise the question why India, too, should not put its signature on it.
Despite not having ratified the CTBT, India continues to occupy the moral high ground because of its unilateral declaration of a moratorium on nuclear tests and adherence to the No First Use policy. In fact, India’s record as a nuclear weapon power is much better than that of China, which has harmed the non-proliferation cause by disguisedly helping Pakistan to acquire weapon-production capability.
India’s latest stance on the CTBT remains what the NDA government articulated after the 1998 nuclear tests — New Delhi would not come in the way of the treaty coming into force if the US and China went ahead and put their signature on it.
During the Second World War, Japan was the only country that suffered the devastation caused by nuclear bombs. Since then Japan has made astonishing progress in the technical sector. From this aspect it is reckoned among the leading nations of the world. Nevertheless, it has stuck to its official policy since then. It has neither conducted nuclear experiments nor is it in favor of doing so.
In so far as India is concerned, various successive governments have consistently emphasized that nuclear experiments carried out by have been for peaceful purposes in the civilian sector. Nevertheless, the whole world is aware that India was constrained to take to this path in the wake of the nuclear experiments conducted by certain major nations, especially China. Which is why, India has been hesitant to sign the CTBT. The leading nuclear weapon nations are pursuing their unilateral policy. On one hand they have piled up huge nuclear weapons, on the other they have been restraining other countries to do so. What is actually desirable is that the world should be made nuclear weapon free. All the nuclear weapon stockpiled in the past should be destroyed and a ban should be imposed on doing so.

Agreement on Defense Sector
The agreements on defense and on fighting terrorism are a historic step taken to meet this "need." Japan's most serious problem today is rapid decline in population. The number of deaths exceeds by far the number of births. Japan's social system does not allow foreigners to settle there. Nonetheless, manpower is required to run factories and other enterprises. In contrast, India is beset with a population explosion. At the same time, it has a large number of skilled workers who can become Japan's most dependable source.
Although Japan fully appreciates the stance adopted by India, its policy to amass nuclear weapons is understandable. We are duly aware that Japan has surged ahead in all respects during the past few decades, which is amazing. Japan's stance has been quite cordial. Nonetheless, the fact remains that the two nations have not marched forward on the path of cooperation and friendship to the extent that was expected of them. It is regrettable that they have not been able to do so, so far. For instance, Japan promoted its friendship with China through extending mutual cooperation in various fields. According to one estimate, the volume of Japan's trade with China is 20 times more than with India. It is also true that Japan extended cooperation to India whenever it was sought from Japan in various technological sectors and vital projects.

Comprehensive Cooperation
The Japanese prime minister displayed tremendous response for the supply of the technology required in the introduction of bullet trains in India. There are still numerous sectors of technology in which India can seek comprehensive cooperation from Japan. Even otherwise, India needs to learn a lot from Japan. It needs the Japanese cooperation in its quest for accelerating the pace of progress for improving the economic lot of its people. It is to be hoped that India and Japan would succeed in taking a quantum leap toward their mutual friendship in the future.
Japan might now be hesitating to give nuclear equipment to India. But going by present indications, this partnership is bound to be forged in the future. Japan seems to be pressuring India to eradicate nuclear weapons. Its real targets, however, are China and the United States. Hatoyama's visit will certainly take this growing friendship between the countries to new heights.