China angry and nervous as Japan joins arms with India

New Delhi, May 29: The Japanese government has decided to "loosen the ban" on export of defence goods and could sell its amphibious aircraft US-2 (ShinMaywa) to India. The ShinMaywa US-2, known as the flying boat, is an STOL (short takeoff and landing) large amphibious aircraft used for air-sea rescue missions.

Coming soon after Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang's visit to India, the Japanese gesture is bound to draw Chinese fire. In fact, China did betray its nervous anger in an article in Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

Another strategic initiative will also be seen as anti-China. India and Japan today announced that bilateral naval exercises would be regularized and held more frequently.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is in Japan and had extensive talks with his counterpart Shinzo Abe on trade and other relations.

Japan has already expressed its concern over the move by China to regulate maritime movement in the South China Sea.

Japan and India have been calling for strengthening of mutual cooperation to ensure regional stability in Asia, especially in the maritime zones.

Both countries have meetings of their foreign and defence ministers on regular basis to engage in strategic cooperation.

However, even before these deals were sealed, the influential Chinese daily said New Delhi's wisdom lay in dealing with its disputes with Beijing calmly, undisturbed by "internal and international provocateurs".

The People's Daily, lashed out at Japanese politicians, terming them as "petty burglars" on China-related issues. China is locked in a maritime dispute with Japan in the resource-rich East China Sea.

"Before Premier Li Keqiang's visit, the China-India border standoff was hyped up by international media. The divergence and contradictions between the two countries were also exaggerated as if the Sino-Indian ties had been strained suddenly," said an article titled 'Sino-Indian diplomatic miracle embarrasses Japanese politicians'.

"But what surprised the media was that China and India properly solved the issue in a short time. During Li's visit the top leaders of both countries had sincere and candid talks and came to a series of strategic consensus and cooperation. The shift of Sino-Indian ties in such a short time is a miracle.

"In the development of Sino-Indian ties there are several divergences and contradictions. Some countries see these differences as an opportunity to provoke dissension," the article said.

But, it added, "China and India have great vision and great wisdom," and "India's wisdom lies in dealing with ties with China in a calm way, undisturbed by internal and international provocateurs."

The article reveals Chinese nagging nervousness about Indo-Japanese ties.

Referring to Japanese PM's call to India, Australia and the US to form a "Democratic Security Diamond" with Japan to check China, the paper said, "Some politicians just made themselves petty burglars on China-related issues."

"The conspiracy of these petty burglars is doomed to fail," it said.

Currently, the Chinese dragon is breathing fire on Japan. But, it is not easy to predict next move from Beijing. Its next target can turn out to be India.

OneIndia News