Japan –Pakistan friendship: extents and vulnerabilities
Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on 18th August, that Japan and Pakistan are long-term partners in their quest for economic development.
Mr Dar was talking to Japanese Ambassador Takashi Kurai who called on him to discuss relations and overall business cooperation between the two countries.
He also recounted meeting of Pakistan-Japan Business Forum (PJBF) in November 2015 and setting up of Joint Trade Committee which was working for promotion of bilateral trade.
Since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations on 28 April 1952 Japan has been a premier development cooperation partner. This heritage of cooperation even dates back to 1925 when the predecessor of Bank of Japan-Mitsubishi opened its branch in Karachi
However, the Embassy successfully negotiated and finalized MoUs between Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) as well as Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) and National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in December 2013 and January 2014 respectively.
Bilateral trade has increased and stands at US$1.9 billion with Pakistan’s exports to be $465mn. Value-added exports of textile grew by around 11 %. Importantly there are 81 Japanese corporations flourishing in Pakistan with Suzuki and Toyota amongst others posting record profits in the current year. There have been regular trade delegations from Pakistan representing Textiles, Food, Leather, Surgical, Engineering, Pharmaceutical and Sports Goods sectors and numerous Business Missions from Japan visited their counterparts in Pakistan. Proving that Pakistan could meet Japanese world-class standards in the food industry, mangoes were finally imported commercially after decades of trying, paving the way for other Pakistani agricultural products.
China angle
Sino-Japan ties have always been bitter due to the previous wars and conflicts. The conflict right now is majorly for the disputed Senkaku island. This conflict has the most chances of turning into a Military conflict. The escalation started with China declaring a no fly zone over the island and announced the Chinese authority will administer the air space for commercial flying too. This was strongly opposed by Japan as the island are considered to be their territory. The conflict nearly took a military turn when certain US recon flights entered the airspace claimed by China.
With US backing Japan for its territorial integrity, China would be vary of escalating it into a armed conflict. This is the only scenario where the conflict can drag major powers. I strongly believe no major power would otherwise interfere apart from assisting diplomatically for a resolution. Russia would definitely be against any side taken by the US but would assist peaceful resolution.