Politics

印度洋-太平洋民主国家大联合

Nov 12, 2018 Brahma Chellaney

东京—在长达一周的亚洲之行中，美国副总统彭斯一直在推销一个“自由而开放”的印度洋-太平洋地区前景，在这个地区中，贸易畅通无阻，航行自由，法治、国家主权和现有边界得到尊重。问题在于这个免于“极权主义和侵略”的印度洋-太平洋愿景是不是可以实现。

日本是愿意为实现这一愿景做出贡献的国家之一。事实上，日本首相安倍晋三便是“自由而开放的印度洋-太平洋”概念的首倡者，这一概念也成为美国总统特朗普继奥巴马失败的亚洲“支点”之后提出的新战略的核心。

面对历史性地在国际实力上超过自己的中国，日本的应对之道是提升自身的地区地位。它利用自己可观的资本——世界第三大经济体、超凡的高科技技能，以及新近摆脱了一些法律和宪法限制的军队——提高自己的地缘政治实力。

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 13 Comments on this article

Yoshimichi Moriyama Nov 16, 2018

Both Geat Britain and France have shown big interest in preserving and defending status quo in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea though neither is formally allied with the countries in this area.

The long awaited English translation of Comfort Women and Sex in the War Zone was done and published in August this year. Please read, if interested, just Book Reviews of amazon usa if not the whole of the book. You will know all the gist

No professional historian of South Korea says Korean women, let alone girls, were abducted and forced by the Japanese to work in prostitution, as I said in my (Michi's) comment, American Humanism, on Chinese Comfort Women, amazon usa.

Korean comfort women were being paid higher salaries than those of the Japanese Army officers, remitting money to their families back home to help them.
The US Army had investigated the issue and conluded that it was simply an extention of the Japan's domestic prostitution system abroad. You can read essential, basic facts at the following:
http://harc.tokyo/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/TheComfortWomenIssueinSharperFocus-En.pdf.

As for the recent South Korean Supreme Court's judgement, Wikipedia's Treaty on Basis Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is brief and simple.
There have been three South Korean Presidents who loved Pyongyang, Kim Dae-jung, Roh Mon-hyun and Moon Jae-in. President Roh very strongly wanted to make Japanese pay compensation to Korean individuals; the minutes of the Japanese-South Korean negotions that led to the treaty had been kept secret, so he ordered all of them made public and set up a special committee to investigate, peruse and reviw them. He found no ground for it and that the matter had been completely settled. He publicly announced in 2005 that South Korea or Koreans had no basis to claim indeminities from Japan, Japanese nationals and Japanese companies. Mr. Moon Jae-in was one of the top secretaries who directly served the President and was himself a member of the committee.
Mr. Moon was sworn in as President in May, last year; he appointed eight new justices, including Chief Justice Kim (金命洙）, making eight justices of fifteen appointed by him.
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j. von Hettlingen Nov 14, 2018

Brahma Chellaney touts the deepening strategic ties between India and Japan – Asia's second- and third-largest economies. Both countries are wary of China's geopolitical ambition and are keen to curb its activity in the East and South China Seas and in the Indian Ocean. Tokyo and Delhi have long-running territorial disputes with Beijing, which is pushing more aggressively its claims in recent years.
Abe and Modi knew each other when Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, who visited Japan in 2007 and 2012, and opened new avenues for Japanese investment in his home state. They have a personal relationship, and seem enjoy a good chemistry. When Modi took office in May 2014, the first country he visited outside the Indian subcontinent was Japan. During his visit to Japan last month, Modi’s host said his Indian guest is “one of my most dependable friends.” In return Modi praised Japan as “one of the most trusted partners’ in India’s economic and technological modernisation.”
The Indian-Japanese alliance indicates that the two regional powers are standing up to Chinese dominance in Asia, and have taken matters into their own hands. The two countries have vowed to work closely in key areas such as defence, security, and technology. The Indo-Pacific cooperation involves four key maritime democracies – Australia, India, Japan, and the US. As India and Japan feel they no longer can rely on the US for protection and oversight of free trade, they resort to a self-help strategy, hoping to draw in countries like Vietnam and Indonesia, which have also resisted falling into China’s orbit.
While Abe has taken a more robust attitude to defence and seen in India as a valuable ally to counter Chinese influence in the Asia Pacific region, Modi is more motivated by business, hoping his market-focused policies will boost India's floundering economy. He is seeking a massive infusion of investment to improve the country’s collapsing infrastructure. Modi is an admirer of China’s economic development and has talked of turning Gujarat into "India's Guangdong", moving away from the image of being a dumping ground for cheap Chinese goods.
The relationship between China and India is complex, with both looking for commercial advantages while mindful of mutual distrust. The two neighbours fought a war in 1962 which ended in a devastating defeat for India. Growing Chinese influence in the Maldives and Sri Lanka in the Indian Ocean has worried Delhi, which also has concerns about China's relationship with its hostile neighbour Pakistan and the role in Nepal.
Beijing has been unsettled by the Indian-US cooperation in the Asia Pacific region in recent years, and India's stance on territorial disputes involving China and other nations in the South and East China Seas. Apart from strengthening ties with Japan, Modi has also reached out to China and Russia, because he seeks to to be an important player in Asia, and sees his agenda as a carefully balanced approach to India's relations with world powers.
What the author laments is the inability of leaders in Japan and South Korea to reconcile. He criticises America’s East Asian ally, saying South Korea, “continues to be held hostage by history,” and has not come to terms with “its colonial subjugation” during WW II. He urges Seoul to “form new, mutually beneficial relationships with Japan, much as India, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia have done with their former colonizers.”
The author is not in a position to speak for South Korea, as he can not relate himself with the war crimes and atrocities committed by Japan. As someone who is hostile towards China, he should show empathy with the pain and sufferings inflicted on the Koreans.
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Nicolas Cornejo Nov 13, 2018

Of course Brahma continues his defense of the fascist government of India, which persecutes religious minorities and political dissidents, and has been strengthening hindutva ideologies. Yes, Modi is the guy that will free Asia from "authoritarianism and agression". Tell us another joke, propagandist!
- P. Kamath Nov 13, 2018
  
  Please, could you name which persecuted minorities and political dissidents these are ? 😁
  - Dark Chocolate Nov 13, 2018
    
    Are you serious? There is no lack of persecuted minorities in India. This is what India is good at, persecuting their minorities. The lower Caste, the untouchables, the tribal people, the adivasis, the Muslims, the Christians.... Basically anybody who is not a Caste Hindu are persecuted.
    
    But since you asked, a recent study by researches in Dartmouth shows that Indian Muslims are Worse Off Than Untouchables and Falling Further.
    
    http://www.riazhaq.com/2018/11/study-indian-muslims-worse-off-than.html
    
    And here are two clips showing the daily lives of Dalits in India. Just go to youtube and type in "dalits beaten up in india" and you can see there are tons of these kind of videos. Shame on India.
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qNKcDdDSl4
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2O1rULB1C4
    - Nicolas Cornejo Nov 14, 2018
      
      Just to add to what Dark Chocolate posted:
      persecution of political dissidents:
      https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/10/modi-bjp-dalit-hindu-repression-maoist
      https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/09/india-modi-bjp-cow-vigilantism-judiciary-corruption
      
      of dalits:
      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-43605550
      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-44517922
      https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/02/asia/dalit-protests-india-intl/index.html
      https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/dalits-are-still-threatened-abused-beaten-killed-for-absurd-reasons-yes-it-s-2018_-348255.html
      https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/01/caste-modi-bjp-hindutva-dalit
      
      against sikh:
      https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46085839
      
      against christians:
      https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1043338/christianity-news-christian-persecution-india-agra-attack-vhp
      - Dark Chocolate Nov 14, 2018
        
        Great post. Keep them coming!
        
        Nicolas Cornejo Nov 26, 2018
        
        https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/12/06/indias-dangerous-new-curriculum/
        
        India is infallible; its citizens, however, must be disciplined. Gujarat’s eighth-grade book insists that “awareness regarding co-operating with the security agencies has to be developed.” Social harmony should be pursued even at the expense of individual rights: Rajasthan’s seventh-grade book recommends, “We should refrain from negative acts like strikes.” There is a whiff of authoritarianism in these proposed limits on autonomy and dissent.
        
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Dark Chocolate Nov 13, 2018

Glad that the author mentioned India and colonialism. This is a topic that is almost never touched upon. No, not the British colonialism of the subcontinent that spawned the thuggish India that is a menace to its neighbors. Indians never tired of reminding the British of their suppose sin. I am talking about India's own colonialism. Here is a primer for readers not familiar with the history. In 1951, four years after the British Raj has already left, India invaded South Tibet and colonized it to this day. South Tibet includes historic Tawang, birthplace of the Sixth Dalai Lama and home to a four hundred years old Tibetan monastery. In 1987 India renamed South Tibet to the so called Arunachal Pradesh and made it a state. The name is definitely chosen to fool the world that it is part of India. Today South Tibet is restless and India knows it. India even resurrects a British colonial era law to subjugate its subjects. The law is called AFSPA (Armed Force Special Power Act) and it gives the state the power to detain or kill anyone with impunity. Recently occupied South Tibet is in the boil again. It starts out when the local police force (which makes up from the native people) arrested two jawans for molesting two Tibetan girls in a festival (raping of Tibetan girls by Indians in South Tibet has been a problem for many years). This prompt the Indian army (which make up of Indians) to ransack the police station and publicly warn the police to 'keep their hands off from their boys'. The situation deteriorates so bad that it prompt the India defense minister to show up in an attempt to intimidate the locals that the army has the support of the federal government.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTahfU_tMm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ3HcEu7WTU

Today Tibetans in South Tibet are living under the mercy of these thugs thanks to Britain. Britain effectively screwed the Tibetans twice. First by invasion and slaughtering them in the early years of the last century when it has an empire in South Asia. Second by being complicit of India's own colonialism when Britain could have told India to back off but didn't. It is high time Britain do something right. Tell India to get out of South Tibet!

Free South Tibet!
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Robert Bruce Nov 13, 2018

Strengthening democracy and free trade in the rapidly growing Pacific region should indeed have been a key strategic objective. If only America had thought to cement such a partnership with some kind of, I don't know, maybe a multi-lateral trade deal? We could even call it a Trans-Pacific Partnership? #IdiotTrump
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P. Kamath Nov 13, 2018

[Abe]. ."....declared: “A strong India benefits Japan, and a strong Japan benefits India.” I think this is a forceful and visionary statement. I hope some one wouldn't spoil this shared hope, for some one in the region already appears to fret and prefer 'South - Asian Pacific' rather than the choice of word, Indo-Pacific region! 😁!
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Harsh Ray Nov 12, 2018

Insightful piece. The Australia-India-Japan-US Quad is holding a meeting this week in Singapore. It will be the third meeting since the Quad was established in November 2017. The Quad can be the catalyst in the establishment of a concert of democracies.
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