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Strategic Vision vol. 11, no. 52 (May 2022)
A History of Cooperation Long history of India-Japan relations shows significant room for growth Raviprasad Narayanan
photo: Isaac Orozco
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The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA 7) prepares to dock at the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.
sia’s most successful democracies, India and Japan, are, after seven decades, cognizing reality of a bilateral relationship that has alternately flattered and fallen short of what could have become determinants of Asia, in economic, political, social, and strategic terms. This article will critically examine a bilateral relationship that has been shaky for decades, but which now may be finding its moorings. On 28 April, 1952, the two countries signed a peace treaty establishing diplomatic relations. This formal recognition of Japan by India came nearly five years after Japan became one of the first countries to recognize the sovereignty of an independent India in 1947. Was this time lag indicative of a gulf between the two
sides, owing to domestic factors in each country? After the devastation caused by the Second World War, Japan wanted to revive its industrial potential, with newer political arrangements at home. The new political system facilitated economic growth, with innovation fostering industry, and the beginnings of an electronic age. India’s path was very different, with independence achieved after a long period of opposition to colonial rule, policies of residual internal fragmentation— fragmentation that was visible politically, socially, and economically. Apart from being a beacon to new democracies, India was striving hard to write, discuss, and adopt a constitution; one that would be noteworthy for its liberalism and entrenched wisdom
Dr. Raviprasad Narayanan is an associate professor at the Center for East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.