Why Doklam standoff would boost India-Japan cooperation in Northeast
It is almost exactly 10 years since Shinzo Abe, during his first innings as Prime Minister, visited India in August 2007. This visit saw the first-ever address by a Japanese PM to our Parliament. Abe spoke of the 'Confluence of the Two Seas'. Narendra Modi was in Japan in November 2016 from the 10th to the 12th. So Abe's return visit comes after an interval of a mere 10 months.
{mosimage} In August 2007, Abe outlined his vision for the shared responsibility of India and Japan towards the security and prosperity of the Indian and Pacific oceans; these two huge bodies of water were an ancient and natural link between the two great democracies of Asia. Abe's successors as PM continued the practice of annual exchanges at the summit level established at the turn of this century.
It's worth recalling that Abe's visit this month comes in the context of a long history of cordial relations stretching back to 1,500
