Is An India - Japan Alliance Being Established To Check China?

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (L) shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe at the start of talks at Abe's official residence in Tokyo May 29, 2013. Reuters

India, Japan Draw Closer, With An Eye On China -- Washington Post

NEW DELHI — During a three-day visit to Japan this week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed several major infrastructure and defense-technology deals, and agreed to speed up dialogue on nuclear cooperation and conduct more joint naval exercises. His host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, called Singh a “mentorlike leader.”

But the bonhomie appeared calculated, at least in part, to send a not-so-subtle diplomatic message to Beijing in the wake of a border row between India and China last month, as well as the dispute between Japan and China over resource-rich islands in the East China Sea.

The goal, analysts say, is to isolate China with a view to limiting its territorial ambitions in the region.

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More News On The India - Japan Alliance And China's Reaction To It

Japan To Enter Indian Defense Market; Growing Indo-Japan Cooperation Worries Regional Giant China -- International Business Times
India, Japan join hands to break China's 'string of pearls' -- Times of India
Indo-Japan ties should worry no one, says Salman Khurshid -- Times of India
China angry and nervous as Japan joins arms with India -- One India
Chinese daily calls Japanese leaders 'petty burglars' for trying to turn India against China -- Times of India
China slams Japan for attempting to turn India against it -- NDTV
Japan trying to 'encircle' China by cozying up to India: Chinese media -- NDTV
India's Love Affair With Japan Fueled By Disputes With China -- Donald Kirk, Forbes
A New Configuration To The East – Analysis -- Gateway House/Eurasia Review
The reason for Japan’s new found love for India is China -- Rajeev Sharma, First Post

India And Japan Forge An Alliance

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Aso, at a joint press conference at the latter’s residence in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: PTI/ Vijay Kumar Joshi

India, Japan Say New Security Ties Not Directed
Against China -- The Hindu

Tokyo: On a day that saw India and Japan sign a declaration on security cooperation and assert that their partnership would be “an essential pillar for the future architecture of the region,” it was left to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to introduce a harsh dose of reality by reminding an elite gathering of Japanese and Indian businessmen that the increase in India’s bilateral trade with China in the past one year alone is more than the whole of India’s total trade with Japan.

That one statistic was not intended to minimise the importance India attaches to its “strategic and global partnership” with Japan, Indian officials said, but merely to drive home the point that India was not going to allow its ties with Tokyo to affect its relations with Beijing. Indeed, in a press conference at the residence of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday evening, Dr. Singh sought to emphasise that India’s economic relations and security cooperation with Japan would not be “at the cost of any third country, least of all China.”

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My Comment: China is clearly looking at these developments as a counter to its new status as the regional superpower in Asia. Expect Russia to also start getting involved in the regional politics very soon.