New Delhi
20 August 2007
There are opportunities for India, Japan and the United States to cooperate
on enhancing stability "in the region around" Iraq, according to a report produced by a
Washington-based think tank. It says that future trilateral cooperation should address areas
such as intelligence sharing and collaboration to deter "unreliable" nations from allowing fissile
material to escape their borders.
The report reads: "India has significant commercial, cultural, and diplomatic ties to the Persian
Gulf States, and Japan's history of aid and diplomacy in the Arab world gives Tokyo a strong
tool kit. As the United States works to stabilise the regional dimension of its Iraq strategy,
coordination with India and Japan will be important."
The US has a major military presence in Iraq. Japan is providing a limited military logistical role
but large aid effort. India is not involved within Iraq.
This, and a set of other recommendations to all three governments, is contained in a joint
publication by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, the
Confederation of Indian Industry and the Japan Institute of International Affairs. The report is
titled, "The United States, Japan and India: Toward New Trilateral Cooperation". It was published
on August 16.
The recommendations were made after discussions held over the course of three roundtables at
Washington in June last year and at Tokyo in January and July this year. Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy SK Lambah was among one of eight participants from India.
The report suggests that the April trilateral exercises among the US, Japanese and Indian
navies were "an important first step" in establishing the levels of confidence and
interoperability. It recommends: "Future trilateral cooperation should address areas such as
peacekeeping operations, technology cooperation, and intelligence sharing and should involve
the coast guards as well."
It goes on to observe that the world is on the edge of a major expansion of civilian nuclear
power-plant production, with plans for 28 new nuclear reactors in the US alone. The challenge,
accordingly, will be how to deter "unreliable" nations from allowing fissile material to escape
their borders. It says: "The United States, Japan, and India have excellent export control
systems and could set an example for the world by working collectively to raise standards
internationally on export control rules. In addition, the United States, Japan, and India could take
the lead in developing 'watermarks' for radioactive material that make any detonation traceable
to specific nations and therefore deterrable."
The report adds that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when he is in New Delhi this week,
should engage in active dialogue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and identify areas
where Japan and India can "enhance cooperation on counterproliferation and nonproliferation."
Some of the other recommendations are: One, the governments of India, Japan and the US
should develop the proposal for a US-Japan-India-Australia quadrilateral forum "beyond the
informal" discussions held on the margins of the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in May this
year. Two, regular trilateral leaders's summits on the margins of meetings of the Group of Eight
and the United Nations. And three, increasing strategic consultations to ensure that the
emerging Asian economic and political architecture remains open and progressive.
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