The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Sino-Indian cooperation key to Asian century: Swamy

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Sunday, Nov 08, 2009
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Sino-Indian cooperation key to Asian century: Swamy

Special Correspondent

China, India, Japan and South Korea urged to look at each other as allies, not competitors

— Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

Connect: (From left) Consul-General of Japan Kazuo Minagawa; Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry president N. Krishnaswami; Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and former policy adviser to the UN B.S. Raghavan, at a seminar in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: There is no scope for building the coming century as the Asian century unless India and China learn to cooperate, according to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy.

He was addressing a seminar on ‘21st Century Asia: Emerging Symbiotic Relations among India, Japan, China and South Korea,’ organised by the Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday, and attended by Kazuo Minagawa, Japan’s Consul General in Chennai.

Dr. Swamy felt that India should use neighbours such as Myanmar and Thailand, who have strong cultural links with it, as a bridge to nations with strong cultural linkages with China, such as Vietnam and Singapore.

Currently, a large percentage of East Asia’s exports to the U.S. and Europe go through China, giving Beijing a huge trade surplus with the West. If India streamlined its regulations and built modern infrastructure, it could capture a large part of this market due to its cheaper labour.

China was careful to maintain excellent relations with its neighbours in order not to lose their trade. However, “India’s weakness is that our neighbours don’t support us in any forum when it comes to a vote against China,” he added.

“There is a real temptation for India to look at East Asia engagement only in the context of rivalling China,” said Sridhar Krishnaswami, head of the School of Media Studies at SRM University. “Indian foreign policy can’t chase a single point agenda.”

B.S. Raghavan, former policy adviser to the United Nations, felt that the four large nations of Asia – China, India, Japan and South Korea – must look at each other as allies, not competitors. “They must combine their influence…to create the new architecture of the United States of Asia,” he said.

Call for collaboration

While neighbourly rivalries have historically been the cause of tensions and wars, regional groupings can be successful in promoting cooperation and increasing trade, noted N. Ravi, Editor of The Hindu.

Apart from the economic opportunities, the four key players in Asia could stand to gain by collaborating in areas such as agricultural research, nanotechnology, higher education and academic research, and cultural influences.

D.S. Rajan, director, Chennai Centre for Chinese Studies, said that East Asian nations saw the United States as a balance against the rise of China while Beijing was wary of American intentions in the region, and tended to treat India and Australia as outsiders.

Economic partnership

India and Japan could find mutual benefits in a deeper economic partnership, said Keizo Takewaka, Minister for Economics and Development at the Japanese embassy in New Delhi.

Japanese investment, technology and manufacturing expertise could complement India’s vast market and young working population, he said.

Free-trade agreements had transformed relationships in East Asia, said N. Krishnaswami, president of the Chamber.

Economic integration is the first step towards greater unity, he said.

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