October 15, 2015

Japan Should Learn Lessons from India’s SoberRealism
By NAKAYAMA Taro
Public opinion in our country is bitterly split over the security bill. Meanwhile, the primary
focus of the world today is U.S,-China diplomatic interactions. Chinese President Xi Jinping plans tovisit the United States at the end of this month, and there are various news reports about this visit.
For example, some sources say, “Senior U.S. officials visit China to tell their critical concerns withcyber-attacks,” and things are so boisterous. The Chinese side has released a famous human rights
activist who was in custody. Also, at the World Economic Forum (an annual summer meeting inDavos) in Dalian, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang stated that China did not want to stimulate
exports by devaluing the yuan, that such devaluation was contradictory to China’s structural reform,
that China did not hope for a world currency war, and that the Chinese economy was highly
integrated into the global economy. Speaking like this, Li is quelling the tumult of volatile Chinese
stock market these days by all means.
Regarding the American side, there are some reports that draw our attention; for example,“U.S. won't impose sanctions on Chinese companies [for cyber-attacks] before Xi’s visit,”(Washington Post Online) and “Boeing will transfer the final process facility of the 737 airliners toChina” (A French source). Globally, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who was one of the good friendsof Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and very pro-Japanese, stepped down in Australia, and pro-Chinese
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken office. Power rotation took quite the opposite directionin Sri Lanka. Strategically, this implies the collapse of China’s string of pearls to encircle India,
which inflicts a vital damage to Beijing.
According to an Indian scholar whom I know very well, China provides military aid for
India’s enemy Pakistan so openly, and their behavior is hardly tolerable for him as India has been in
territorial dispute with China (He says that India has been confronting China for fifty years.).
However, he says that India welcomes President Xi Jinping’s visit (Xi entered India from the capitalof Gujarat state, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency.). India accepts $20 billion
dollars in foreign direct investment from China, and agrees on proceeding with nuclear cooperation

with China at this stage. Furthermore, he points out that India joined the AIIB from the beginning.
He argues that any country should be a sober realist for national survival and not fall into a naïveidealist. He says furthermore, “It would be troublesome if China and the United States were tobecome too close, and India were marginalized. But in my view, China does not want any war orconfrontation with the United States, despite their verbal criticism to Washington. Like India, thebest and the brightest of this country study in the United States. Chinese leaders are smart enough tomake a sound judgment.”
As Professor Kazuya Sakamoto of Osaka University stated, a stauncher US-Japanese deterrence
would prevent China’s self-righteous behavior, which would be helpful to promote improved
Japan-China relations (in summary). At the hearing of the House of Councilors yesterday, this is thekey to everything. As to the matter of the security bill this time, I am concerned that the debate hassmoked out anti-Americanism among some Japanese conservatives. According to one Japanesescholar, this is because they are still traumatized with humiliation of the defeat in the World War II
and the following occupational rule by the United States, and they have not shed such negative
sentiments yet. He says that their anti-Americanism is nonetheless not so resolute as to confront theUnited States. International politics is driven by so many untrustworthy actors, and therefore, Japan
should learn India’s way to live sober mindedly and sturdily in a world like this.
(This is an English translation of the article written by Mr. NAKAYAMA Taro, Adjunct Staffof a Nonprofit Organization, which originally appeared on the e-forum “Hyakka-Somei” ofCEAC on September 16, 2015.)

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