After the nuclear tests of May 1998, relations between India and Japan were distant and difficult. It was Yoshiro Mori, prime minister of Japan at the time, who turned around India-Japan ties by defying much of the bureaucracy.
In this Idea Exchange moderated by C Raja Mohan, Editor, Strategic Affairs, Mori speaks about Japan's ties with India and his love for rugby.
Though I held the prime minister's office for only a short while (April 5, 2000 to April 26, 2001), my focus was on India, Russia and Africa. Not many Japanese politicians were interested in the three countries at that time. It was a coincidence that I became prime minister—my predecessor Keizo Obuchi had a stroke and later passed away. I was the secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, the party in power. But three days after I took office, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was told that I would have to be operated upon immediately. If I went away for the operation, the party would have to look for a new prime minister again, leading to more instability. So I decided that in whatever time I had before the operation, I would try to get things done. I decided to focus on India, Russia and Africa.
I am in India for the outcome of the India-Japan global partnership that we signed with the then Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in August 2000. I have been to India five times. I am also the chairperson of the Japan-India Association. It is the oldest partnership between the two countries—109 years old—and I am the seventh chairperson of the association.
It's thanks to the Indian Ocean and the Taiwan Strait that the Japanese economy has grown so smoothly in the past. Ninety-eight% of the energy Japan receives comes through this route. Most of Japan's exports—to the Middle East, Africa and other countries—take this route. So, it is very important for the survival of Japan that this area is safe and peaceful. Today, Japan is a prosperous and happy country. After we lost World War II, the Americans came and made our Constitution in three days. They decided that Japan will never go to war again and it will never have an army. So Japan had self-defence forces. The situation was such that even if a foreign ship came towards the Japanese seas, we could not retaliate or take any action unless we had ascertained whether the ship had come to attack.
Now we are in a period where no country by itself is responsible for its own security. We have to cooperate with each other so that the region and the respective countries are protected. And in this region, the country that has been protecting Japan has been the US. There is a US-Japan security treaty that states that even if America is in trouble, even if it is attacked, the Japanese self-defence forces will not go to protect them. However, if Japan is threatened by any enemy, America will protect us. It is a wonderful agreement. Of course, in order to provide us protection, we have had to give them area to set up army bases.
I think the ASEAN region is stable but northeast Asia has a lot of problems. In this new situation, Japan's security forces have also changed their stance. They cannot stay home and do nothing. So, the self-defence forces in Japan are very active in areas where they promote international peace and cooperation. Last year, US, Japan and India held a joint military exercise on the high seas. I think it is a wonderful thing. It is very important to continue these activities in the future.
What we are concerned about is that in case Taiwan unites with mainland China, the Japanese will have to take permission from the Chinese government every time its ships pass through the straits. And if they unite, China will have access up to the Pacific Ocean. What will happen then is that South Pacific islands like Fiji, Tonga, Palau and Micronesia will come under strong Chinese influence—these are really peaceful islands. So, Japan and India must continue to cooperate to make sure that our seas are peaceful and protected. Rugby is a gentleman's game. It looks aggressive, but the rules are very strict. So, you have to execute it in a gentlemanly manner.
I was born in 1937 when Japan was in the middle of war. After the war, my father took me to a rugby match at Waseda University and I decided that when I grew up, I would go to Waseda and play rugby. Luckily, I got into Waseda and it had the strongest rugby team in Japan at the time. But after I got into Waseda, I got sick and as a result I could not continue with rugby. That was the turning point for me because had I played rugby then and played well, I would never have become a politician. I would have been part of Toyota, Toshiba or some other big company. And since
I am more than 70 years old now, I would have been sacked or would have retired by now and been sent back to my hometown!
The interesting thing about rugby is that the ball is not round. So, when it falls on the ground, you don't know which direction it will take. Life is like a rugby ball, we don't know which direction it will take. So when you are lucky and the ball comes to you, you grab it and take it to the goal post. When the ball came my way, I took it and moved towards politics.
As to whether it helped me in politics, yes, it did. In rugby, it is important to make sure everybody is together, especially when scrums occur, when you don't know where the ball is going to come from. Once the ball comes, it is player number 10 who decides whether to kick it and where to kick it. I was number 10. As you know, in LDP, there were several changes and I had to make important decisions in quick time. Playing rugby helped me make those decisions.
Japan's neighbours, China, Taiwan and Korea, are extremely sensitive and important for it. There is no hiding the fact that Japan attacked and invaded China. As far as Korea goes, Japan ruled the region for 36 years. It is very similar to what the other countries in the world were doing: France, England, Belgium and Holland had colonies south to their own countries. When you are attacking another country, you are actually taking away the rights of the people of that country. From that point of view, yes, Japan was not right. However, those actions were taken by a generation before ours. Unfortunately, the future generations of Japan will always be blamed for those actions. If we have to continue talking of the past, the issue will not go away. What we have to do is make sure that the future generations can talk to each other and that we develop good relationships between Korea and Japan and Japan and China. So what Japan is trying to do is make sure that at least the next generation has a platform where they can talk positively about the future.
After the war, Japan got a lot of help from various countries. Instead of spending money on its forces and security, it invested in domestic and economic stability, education and the welfare of the country. But over a period of time, its economy became more globalised and the Japanese yen and stocks became more globalised. As a result, whenever something happened in one part of the world, like the oil shock and the dollar shock, the Japanese economy was directly hit. All these years, Japan has been able to sustain itself because our corporations, companies and even individuals have had a good amount of savings. Currently, there is an economic crisis. To ensure that the Japanese standard of living does not undergo a dramatic change, the government is spending a lot of money. However, as compared to a long time ago, the Japanese people have smaller savings and disposable incomes. People who used to lead a good life now see their resources depleted. As a result, the LDP lost and the DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) came to power.
I don't think it is a very good idea to depend on just one country. Due to what happened during the war, Japan made sure that it contributed as much as it could to the economic growth of China and Korea. Now China is the second largest economy in the world. This big economy, till recently, received ODA (Official Development Assistance) funding from Japan. Due to the funding Japan gave China, Japanese industry has benefited and grown. At this point of time, we have to make sure that we are able to contribute to the economy of other regions, for example, Africa and India. I think we can help them in economic and technical fields. Chennai has a Nissan factory where they would be generating employment for 4,000 people. Next to the Nissan factory is the Komatsu factory and there, too, they have employed 2,300 people. While the management is Japanese, only 20 people from Japan work there. Komatsu, for example, sends Indians to Japan for special technical training so that they bring the knowledge back to India.
I didn't mean that the Japanese are totally prosperous. I don't think any person can be totally satisfied at any point of time. When everybody becomes prosperous, there is dissatisfaction. What happens is that you already have a good car but your neighbour buys a better car. So your child and wife will be after you to get a better car which, in a way, is a good thing because it pushes you to work harder. Japan did well over the years but I can't say we are satisfied and we are not hungry anymore. But the case is that Japanese technology has gone to China and Korea. If you think about it, originally most of the cars and electronics were made in the US. It's only that Japan made them better. I think times have changed.
No country can be happy only by itself and only look after itself. It is very important to share and cooperate with other countries and in such a situation what Japan can give is technology and capital. China is on its way to becoming number two in the world but, do you think all Chinese people are happy?
For India, things have only begun. It's a country with more than a billion people. There are many problems that India will have to face, one of them being the environment. It cannot go the same route as Japan or US because we have to make sure that the earth lives.
Financial Express 04-17-10
