<![CDATA[Abe cancels trip to protest-hit India amid efforts to counter 'Chinese challenge']>
Violent clashes erupted in Delhi on Friday between police and thousands of university students over the enactment of a contentious new citizenship law, with the unrest leading Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to cancel a planned visit to India.
"Both sides have decided to defer the visit to a mutually convenient date in the near future," India's foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said in a statement.
Several people were injured in the protests, which saw police firing tear gas at the Jamia Millia Islamia university and demonstrators attacking cars in the capital.
The new Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which was signed into law by the Indian president on Thursday, offers a way to Indian citizenship for six minority religious groups from neighbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, including Hindus and Christians, but not Muslims, which critics say undermines India's secular foundations.
Abe was slated to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Sunday to Tuesday, and local media said the meeting would take place in Guwahati in northeast Assam state " a region that has become the centre of anger over the citizenship law.
Two people were killed in Assam on Thursday after police fired at mobs who were burning buildings and attacking railway stations. Mobile internet access in the region was blocked and curfew was imposed on major cities and towns.
Protesters say granting Indian nationality to more people would strain the stat's resources and marginalise local communities, and activists are decrying Modi's move to use religion as a criteria for granting citizenship.
Indian police escort a team of Japanese security officials in Gauhati on December 12, 2019, as protesters set fire to block traffic. Photo: AP alt=Indian police escort a team of Japanese security officials in Gauhati on December 12, 2019, as protesters set fire to block traffic. Photo: AP
For Islamic groups, the opposition and rights groups, it is part of Modi's agenda to marginalise India's 200 million Muslims. He denies this.
Many in the northeast fear that immigrants from Bangladesh " many of them Hindus " will become citizens, taking jobs and weakening the local culture.
"They can't settle anyone in our motherland. This is unacceptable. We will die but not allow outsiders to settle here," protester Manav Das said in Guwahati on Friday.
People burn a copy of Citizenship Amendment Bill during a protest in New Delhi on December 12, 2019. Photo: Reuters alt=People burn a copy of Citizenship Amendment Bill during a protest in New Delhi on December 12, 2019. Photo: Reuters
Besides immigration, China has also fuelled anxieties in the region, especially with its territorial claims in India's northernmost reaches of Arunachal Pradesh.
The conflict, lasting over seven decades, has led to military skirmishes, and while both sides have agreed to maintain a ceasefire, Beijing has objected to Indian leaders visiting the area.
A meeting between Modi and Abe in Guwahati, less than 200 kilometres away from Arunachal Pradesh, would have been closely watched by China.
China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet. Graphic: SCMP alt=China refers to Arunachal Pradesh as South Tibet. Graphic: SCMP
GROWING TIES
The summit, had it happened, would have been yet another sign of deepening economic and defence cooperation between India and Japan.
In the last year, Abe and Modi met three times, and this weekend's summit would have been Abe's fifth to India.
The two countries conducted several military exercises in the last year " the Dharma Guardian Land Exercise, the Shinyuu Maitri aerial exercise, and "Malabar", the joint naval trilateral exercise conducted with the US this year in September.
The two countries conducted several military exercises over the last year " the Dharma Guardian Land Exercise, the Shinyuu Maitri aerial exercise, and "Malabar", the joint naval trilateral exercise conducted with the US this year in September.
However, their deepening relationship has faced some recent hiccups, after India refused to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Programme (RCEP), a mega free-trade pact with China, Japan, India and 13 other nations.
Indian PM Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe review an honour guard in Tokyo on November 11, 2016. File photo: AFP alt=Indian PM Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe review an honour guard in Tokyo on November 11, 2016. File photo: AFP
Srabani Roy Choudhury, a professor at the Centre of East Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University, said India's refusal took Japan by surprise.
"It did not anticipate such a move and hence, sent out a strong diplomatic message that Japan was committed to an RCEP that is inclusive of India," she said.
Choudhury said the RCEP was significant for Japan, especially after the US withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free-trade pact between 11 countries, including Japan.
There would have been "considerable dialogue" on the RCEP in a summit between India and Japan, she said.
Both sides would also likely have discussed the uncertainty around the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project that Japan is funding and its companies executing in India.
The newly elected government in Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is a capital city, has criticised the railway project, citing heavy costs and protests from locals over land acquisition.
Indian PM Narendra Modi with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Indian railway minister Piyush Goyal at a ceremony to mark the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project on September 14, 2017. File photo: EPA-EFE alt=Indian PM Narendra Modi with Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Indian railway minister Piyush Goyal at a ceremony to mark the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail project on September 14, 2017. File photo: EPA-EFE
Kazuya Nakamizo, a professor at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, said the Japanese establishment was certain to be anxious about the unfolding political climate around the project.
"Japan needs new markets and is very keen to push its cutting edge technologies such as bullet trains," said Nakamizo, an expert in Indian politics and South Asian politics.
"Hence, this bullet train project becomes particularly critical to this evolving technology/infrastructure export strategy of Japan, especially since Japan met with failure during a similar bid in Indonesia, where the contract was finally awarded to China," he said.
Modi and Abe would also have visited Imphal in the northeastern state of Manipur, the site of one of the fiercest battles of World War II, where the Japan's Imperial Army fought with Indian nationalist Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army against British rule, said Rupakjyoti Borah, a senior researcher at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies.
Japan and India have also been facilitating greater Japanese investments to modernise India's northeast region, plans formalised under the India-Japan Act East Forum of 2017. According to the Indian government, Tokyo is investing US$1.87 billion in projects that would boost connectivity, infrastructure, industry and tourism.
The base of Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force in Djibouti, East Africa. Photo: Felix Wong alt=The base of Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force in Djibouti, East Africa. Photo: Felix Wong
Choudhury said these investments by Japan had been made with an eye on China's growing role in the region.
"[Abe] has strengthened economic partnership in areas relating to strategic components, like road connectivity and ports, and he is currently nurturing a strong presence in north-east India, which has so far been neglected," she said.
When Abe and Modi do meet, they could sign the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, an accord that would grant Japan access to Indian naval facilities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean, while giving India access to Japanese naval facilities in Djibouti.
China watchers say these moves are clear signs the two countries have common cause in trying to counter Beijing in the region, with Kyoto University's Nakamizo noting that Japan had been consciously strengthening ties with India since the 2000s.
Sana Hashmi, a China policy watcher at the Perth-based think tank Future Directions International, said Japan and India had been trying to build a credible alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing's global infrastructural project that includes building connectivity links across regions and countries.
"The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor that the two are helming, along with the tripartite agreement with Sri Lanka, are two examples," Hashmi said.
"It also helps that the two countries have convergent interests, especially with India's Act East policy and Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy," she said. "Japan's involvement in India's northeast and the original choice of hosting Abe in the region is a sign that both India and Japan are ready to deal with the Chinese challenge."
Additional reporting by Reuters and AFP
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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