India-Japan Infrastructure Cooperation: Progress and Challenges

Feng Libing

In recent years, India and Japan have moved closer in their cooperation on infrastructure construction. While India is eager to integrate its Act East policy, its Look West strategy, and the SAGAR (security and growth for all in the region) vision through cooperation with Japan, Japan is strengthening its ties with India under the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, and in particular in its Partnership for Quality Infrastructure, in order to restrain and balance China's influence in the region. In general, the infrastructure cooperation between India and Japan has brought a new dimension to the China-India-Japan trilateral relationship and has implications for the stability and development of the entire region. Therefore, it is necessary to study the India-Japan infrastructure cooperation systematically in order to learn from its experience and explore China's own paths of cooperation.

Trends in India-Japan Infrastructure Cooperation

In order to strengthen its infrastructure investment in Asian and African countries, Japan launched the Infrastructure System Export Strategy in 2013, the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure in 2015, and the Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure in 2016.1“The ‘Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure’ Initiative Directed Toward the G7 Ise-Shima Summit Meeting Announced,” Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Government of Japan, May 23, 2016, ttps://www.meti.go.jp/english/press/2016/0523_01.html.On the other hand, after taking office in 2014, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi began to reform the country's economy, facilitating domestic infrastructure construction and cross-border transportation while forging ahead with his diplomatic agenda. In this context, India and Japan have been working together to plan and promote a number of joint infrastructure projects in South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Indian Ocean region.

South Asia

The two countries have a number of joint infrastructure projects in South Asia. First, Japan has been actively investing in India's industrial corridors. Currently, five industrial corridors are under planning in India, including Delhi-Mumbai, Chennai-Bangalore, Bangalore-Mumbai, Chennai-Calcutta and Amritsar-Calcutta, with the goal of building a huge diamond-shaped economic circle and thereby generating a greater economic capacity. While India is looking for funding to support the industrial corridors, Japan, under its Partnership for Quality Infrastructure, has invested heavily in related projects, including the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor,2“Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India, Background,” http://dfccil.gov.in/dfccil_app/Background.the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway, the Bangalore-Chennai highway, and the industrial parks built around Chennai.3“Japan to Cooperate on ‘Smart City’ Initiative in Chennai,” Embassy of Japan in India, July 2017, https://www.in.emb-japan.go.jp/files/000276846.pdf.

Second, Japanese investment has been involved in infrastructure construction in northeastern India. In recent years, India has enhanced infrastructure buildup in northeastern states. Regarding development of the region as part of its Act East policy, the Indian government intends to build the northeast into India's eastern gateway to Southeast Asia.4“Look East Policy and the North Eastern States,” Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Government of India, February 15, 2011, http://mdoner.gov.in/contentimages/files/Aspects_of_Look_East_Policy.pdf.India encourages Japanese investment despite its very strict policy of foreign investment in the northeastern region. As a result, the two countries now have a number of ongoing joint projects, including the expansion of National Highway No.54 in Mizoram State, the construction of National Highway No.51 in Meghalaya State, a forest management system in Sikkim State and Nagaland State, the Umiam Hydropower Station in Meghalaya State, and the Dhubri Bridge in Assam State.5Takema Sakamoto, “For Promotion of Intra-Regional Connectivity: India-Japan Partnership for Economic Development in the Northeast,” March 20, 2018, https://www.jica.go.jp/india/english/office/others/c8h0vm00009ylo4c-att/presentations_18.pdf.Some cooperation projects have even been extended to the border areas disputed with China.

Third, the two countries are cooperating in other South Asian countries. In 2018, India and Japan issued a joint statement during Prime Minister Modi's visit to Japan, announcing that the two sides would cooperate in building roads and bridges between Ramgarh and Baraiyharat, and a railway bridge crossing the Jamuna River in Bangladesh, as well as infrastructure projects to develop liquefied natural gas in Sri Lanka.6“India-Japan Fact Sheets: India-Japan Development Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific including Africa,” Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, October 29, 2018, https://www.mea.gov.in/bilateraldocuments.htm?dtl/30544/IndiaJapan_Fact_Sheets.

Southeast Asia

India and Japan are working together in building land and maritime channels to connect South Asia and Southeast Asia. First is the Mekong-India Economic Corridor. India and Japan are making efforts to integrate economic resources in the region by connecting land passages from Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh, and Bangkok to Dawei of Myanmar, and maritime passages from Dawei to Chennai in India.

Second is the India—Myanmar—Thailand Trilateral Highway. India proposed building the highway to connect Moreh of India, Tamu of Myanmar, and Mae Sot of Thailand. People carrying passports or other travel documents from any of the three countries, and vehicles approved by the three countries are allowed to transit. In 2014, India and Japan jointly proposed the idea of an Asia Economic Corridor, with Japan providing loans to promote cross-border road renovation, and construction of bridges and ports in India, Myanmar and Thailand.7”Japan and India Plans for ‘Asia Economic Corridor’ to Restrain China,” Ministry of Commerce of China, January 20, 2014, http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/article/i/jyjl/j/201401/20140100465469.shtml.

Third is the development cooperation in Rakhine State of Myanmar. Rakhine State is rich in natural resources. Under the framework of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, India has funded the construction of the Sittwe deep water port in Rakhine State. The shipping route from Sittwe to Kolkata of India has promoted the expansion of India-Myanmar trade.8“Economic Opportunities in Rakhine State,” Global New Light of Myanmar, May 19, 2017, http://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/economic-opportunities-in-rakhine-state.On this basis, India and Japan will strengthen cooperation in housing, education and electrification projects in Rakhine.9“India-Japan Fact Sheets: India-Japan Development Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific including Africa.”

Africa

Infrastructure cooperation in the African region is a major direction of India-Japan cooperation. First is the construction of the Mombasa Corridor. The Mombasa Corridor is a multi-modal transport trade route connecting the landlocked countries of the African Great Lakes region with the port of Mombasa in Kenya. It was built on the basis of the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Agreement signed by Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda, and includes port construction, customs operation, railways, highways, waterways, and pipeline transportation.10“Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority, Background,” http://www.ttcanc.org/page.php?id=11.Japan provides loans to Kenya for the development and expansion of the Mombasa port, and supports the Master Plan for Development of Mombasa Special Economic Zone, the Comprehensive Development Master Plan in the Mombasa Gate City, the Master Plan on Logistics in Northern Economic Corridor, and the Mombasa Port Area Road Development Project.11“Signing of Japanese ODA Loan Agreement with the Republic of Kenya for Mombasa Port Development Project (Phase 2) ,” JICA, March 20, 2015, https://www.jica.go.jp/english/news/press/2014/ 150310_01.html.Since ancient times, the Mombasa Port has been in close contact with the ports in western India. When the East African Railway was built in the 1890s, an additional large number of Indian workers poured in and settled here. India's societal and economic connection to Kenya has become a favorable condition for India-Japan cooperation on infrastructure construction in East Africa.

Second is the project on capacity development for international trade facilitation in the Eastern African region. India-Japan infrastructure cooperation in Africa focuses not only on hard but also on soft infrastructure, including one-stop registration, taxation, finance, trade and other services. At present, the two countries are trying to develop automated customs data management systems to address the problem of slow, time-consuming and costly African customs clearance systems.12S. K. Mohanty, Priyadarshi Dash, Vaibhav Kaushik and Bhaskar Kashyap, “Trade Facilitation in Asia Africa Growth Corridor: Potential for India-Japan Cooperation,” Research and Information System for Developing Countries, November 2017, http://www.ris.org.in/trade-facilitation-asia-africa-growthcorridor-potential-india-japan-cooperation-africa.

The Indian Ocean

In the Indian Ocean, India and Japan have strengthened their infrastructure cooperation and planned potential new routes to ensure the safety of sea passages. First is the cooperation to develop islands and ports in the Indian Ocean region. Japan will provide low-interest loans under the Free and Open India-Pacific Strategy to ensure smooth navigation of the Indian Ocean and improve coastal defense capabilities at ports for relevant countries.13Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, “India, Japan to Develop Ports to Counter China,” The Economic Times, May 30, 2018, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/india-japan-to-developports-to-counter-china/articleshow/64377787.cms.Ports built by India and Japan include Matarbari in Bangladesh, Trincomale in Sri Lanka, and Chabahar in Iran. In addition, India and Japan have also cooperated in the development of outlying islands, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Laksha Islands. Among them, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which have important geo-strategic significance, are home a joint command for the Indian Army, Air, and Naval Forces.

Second is the planning for potential new routes in the Indian Ocean region. At present, there are two main passages for oil transportation in the Indian Ocean. One goes west of the Persian Gulf, passing the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa or through the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, to Europe and the United States. The other goes through the Persian Gulf to the east, crosses the Straits of Malacca or Lombok to the countries of East Asia.14Lian Degui and Jin Yongming, Ocean Strategy of Japan, Current Affairs Publishing House, 2016, p.167.Two new potential routes have been blueprinted in the Vision Document of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor. The first will connect the Jamnagar Port in western India's Gujarat State and Djibouti, the strategic pivot of the Gulf of Aden. The other will link the Port of Mombasa in Kenya and the Port of Zanzibar in Tanzania with the port near Madurai in India's Tamil Nadu State, and further to Kolkata and Sittwe.15RIS, ERIA, and IDE-JETRO, “Asia Africa Growth Corridor: Partnership for Sustainable and Innovative Development,” May 22-26, 2017, p.12, http://www.eria.org/Asia-Africa-Growth-Corridor-Document.pdf; Neha Sinha, “Asia-Africa Growth Corridor: Can It Be A Game Changer?” Vivekananda International Foundation, June 5, 2017, www.vifindia.org/article/2017/june/05/asia-africa-growthcorridor-can-it-be-a-game-changer.

Motivations of India-Japan Infrastructure Cooperation

The cooperation between India and Japan on infrastructure construction is driven by both economic interests and geopolitical and security considerations.

Harmonizing Indo-Pacific visions to promote geopolitical transformation

With the increasing geo-strategic prominence of the Indo-Pacific, India and Japan, as two major forces in the region, are steadily improving bilateral cooperation, and actively seeking multilateral cooperation with the United States, Australia and other countries.16Lou Chunhao, “The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor: Content, Motivation and Prospects,” China International Studies, No.2, 2018, pp.131-152.Japan is trying to strengthen its alliance with the US to cope with the geopolitical changes brought about by China's rise, while actively advocating value-based diplomacy, strengthening relations with India, Australia and New Zealand, and building the so-called “Arc of Freedom and Prosperity.” In recent years, the US has emphasized India's strategic importance in the context of Indo-Pacific strategy, while Japan looks forward to playing a constructive role in the Indo-Pacific order by strengthening cooperation with India. On the other hand, India, identifying itself as a great power and following the diplomatic tradition of non-alignment, has for long carefully avoided getting too close to the US and its ally Japan. However, it has now begun to rethink its relations with Japan in the face of China's rise and its consequent challenges to the China-India border and the Indian Ocean region, as well as the United States' security spending cuts. To a certain extent, the important driving force for increasing India-Japan cooperation has been the geopolitical changes brought about by the rise of China; the cooperation between India and Japan will, in turn, also bring about more fundamental changes in geopolitics.17Harsh V. Pant, “China’s Rise Leads India and Japan to Wary Embrace,” https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/chinas-rise-leads-india-and-japan-wary-embrace.

Synergizing development policies to serve domestic economies

The emphasis of Japan's Partnership for Quality Infrastructure initiative on the importance of infrastructure for Asian and African development18“The ‘Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure’ Initiative Directed Toward the G7 Ise-Shima Summit Meeting Announced,” Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Government of Japan.allows Japan to expand its share in overseas infrastructure investment and is also critical to Japan's domestic economic growth.19“The Prime Minister in Action: Meeting of the Management Council for Infrastructure Strategy,” Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet, May 23, 2016, http://japan.kantei.go.jp/97_abe/actions/201605/23article5.html.According to data analysis of the Geographical Simulation Model (GSM), for instance, the Mekong-India Economic Corridor, once completed, may contribute 4.14 percentage points to Japan's GDP in 2030.20Nishimura Hidetoshi, “Connectivity between ASEAN and India and the Significance of the Dawei Development Project,” Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry, November 2013, https://www.rieti.go.jp/en/special/p_a_w/036.html.In India, the Modi government has carried out drastic economic reforms and introduced measures such as “Make in India,” “Smart City” and “Digital India.” Improvements in India's domestic infrastructure and cross-border road connectivity are critical to India's development plans and overall diplomatic arrangements.

Coordinating Africa policies to raise competitiveness

In recent years, both India and Japan have accelerated their pace of investment and cooperation with Africa. At the 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development, Japan emphasized strengthening infrastructure investment in Africa. In 2017, the International Cooperation Bureau of Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued the Priority Policy for Development Cooperation, highlighting Japan's increased links with Africa.21International Cooperation Bureau, MOFA, “Priority Policy for Development Cooperation, FY2017,” April 2017, p.4, https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000259285.pdf.India is also paying greater attention to cooperation with Africa, given the importance of Africa's oil, gas and rare metal resources, and India's desire to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council. In the past 20 years, India has strengthened its economic and trade ties with Africa through the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the Focus Africa program and the India—Africa Forum Summit, and close collaborative relations have been established between the two sides in telecommunications, the pharmaceutical industry and software development. However, the volume of Indian and Japanese investment in Africa is far below that of China. Under these circumstances, the two countries have chosen to work together to increase their competitive edge in Africa, emphasizing high quality, transparency, environmental protection, workers' rights, and protection of local enterprises.

Balancing China's maritime expansion to secure sea passages

As pointed out by Jagannath Panda, Coordinator of the East Asia Centre at India's Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, one important driving force for India-Japan cooperation in the Indian Ocean and Africa is China's increasing strategic influence, especially the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative.22Jagannath Panda, “The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor: An India-Japan Arch in the Making?” Focus Asia, No.21, August 2017, http://isdp.eu/publication/asia-africa-growth-corridor-aagc-india-japan.India maintains a high degree of vigilance toward the Chinese initiative and China's port construction in the Indian Ocean. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, especially the construction of Gwadar Port, has made India nervous about the safety of its energy lifeline, while the construction of Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka has India worry about the possible appearance of Chinese submarines in the Indian Ocean at any time.23Patrick M. Cronin and Darshana M. Baruah, “The Modi Doctrine for the Indo-Pacific Maritime Region,” The Diplomat, December 2, 2014, https://thediplomat.com/2014/12/the-modi-doctrine-for-theindo-pacific-maritime-region.Meanwhile, Japan is wary of China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and its strategy of developing into a maritime power, believing that it will affect the security of Japan's sea passages in the Indo-Pacific region. In recent years, India-Japan cooperation in port construction, island development and the planning of new sea passages in the Indian Ocean region have all been based on their common security interests. In addition, the strengthening of bilateral security cooperation, the active participation in the US-India-Japan trilateral dialogue, the restart of US-Japan-Australia-India quadrilateral mechanism,24“U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee 2019 Fact Sheet,” Office of the Spokesperson, US Department of State, April 19, 2019, https://www.state.gov/u-s-japan-security-consultative-committee-2019-fact-sheet.and Japan's proposal for a “security diamond”25Shinzo Abe, “Asia’s Democratic Security Diamond,” Project Syndicate, December 27, 2012, https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a-strategic-alliance-for-japan-and-india-by-shinzoabe?barrier=accesspaylog.are all evidence that India and Japan are trying to restrain China's maritime influence and secure their maritime passages through infrastructure construction.

Effectiveness and Challenges of India-Japan Infrastructure Cooperation

India and Japan have made some progress in their infrastructure cooperation in the following two aspects. First, they have complementary advantages with each other in promoting economic cooperation. In practice, they have explored an effective mechanism, supplementing Japan's advantages in capital and technology with India's societal and cooperative experience in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa. Japan offers a large amount of official development aid for infrastructure projects in India, and provides loans and technical training. The two countries have established a mechanism of upgrading infrastructure and technological cooperation26“India-Japan Fact Sheets: India-Japan Cooperation in Railways,” Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, October 29, 2018, https://www.mea.gov.in/bilateral-documents.htm?dtl/30544/IndiaJapan_Fact_Sheets.and have forged a digital partnership on the basis of digital infrastructure cooperation, synergizing Japan's “Society 5.0” and India's “Digital India” and “Smart City.”27Ibid.In northeastern India, they have utilized mechanisms such as the Act East Forum, the Mountain Railways Capacity Development Project and the India-Japan Workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction.28“India-Japan Fact Sheets: India-Japan Cooperation in Railways.”In the Indo-Pacific region, they have proposed to jointly build an industrial corridor and an industrial network for Asia and Africa through the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, highlighting the idea of “high quality” and “two-way cooperation” in infrastructure and strengthening their existing cooperation mechanisms in Asia and Africa.29RIS, ERIA, and IDE-JETRO, “Asia Africa Growth Corridor: Partnership for Sustainable and Innovative Development”.The closer cooperation in infrastructure construction has driven the two countries' economic growth and raised the intensity of their bilateral economic interactions. For instance, with Japan participating in the Delhi-Mumbai and the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor projects in India, many Japanese enterprises, especially those in the automobile manufacturing industry, have come to invest, and the Japanese population in Chennai has witnessed rapid increase. The Japanese residential area has even become known as “Little Tokyo” in Chennai.30Shalini Umachandran, “Little Tokyo in Chennai,” The Times of India, December 4, 2013, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Little-Tokyo-in-Chennai/articleshow/26819744.cms.Now there are more than 300 Japanese companies in Chennai, and nearly 200 in Bangalore. The number of Japanese enterprises in the Chennai-Bangalore corridor area accounts for about 30% of the total number of Japanese companies in India.31Nippon Koei, East Nippon Expressway, and Padeco, “Study on the Bangalore - Chennai Expressway Construction Project in the Republic of India,” February 2012, https://www.jetro.go.jp/jetro/activities/contribution/oda/model_study/earth_infra/pdf/h23_saitaku_01e.pdf.With the launch of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway project, Japan plans to build an industrial park of more than 1,000 hectares in Gujarat State where Ahmedabad is located. Japanese companies including Honda and Suzuki have made investment in the park, which is expected to attract more Japanese companies in the future, especially those specialized in consulting and engineering procurement.32“‘Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor’ to Help Japanese Investors,” Business Standard, August 3, 2016, https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/delhi-mumbai-industrial-corridor-to-help-japaneseinvestors-116080301476_1.html.

Second, the integration of investment in both soft and hard facilities has enabled India-Japan cooperation to win public support. The two countries do not have distinct capital advantages over China in large-scale infrastructure investment. Therefore, they have highlighted “soft power” by paying attention not only to the construction of “hard” facilities such as roads, railways and ports, but also “soft” facilities such as one-stop customs clearance and digital connectivity. At the same time, they have expounded extensively on such concepts as high quality, environmentally friendly, transparency and support services, in the hope of making up for the disadvantages they have with China in the realm of capital spending. In the construction of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, for example, Japan has not only invested in railways, but has also provided support services. In 2017, Japan offered a special loan of 60 billion rupees for the purchase of 200 electric locomotives and built a warehouse for locomotive maintenance in Haryana State.33“JICA’s Cooperation Adds Powerful Electric Locomotives for ‘Western Dedicated Freight Corridor’,” JICA, September 15, 2017, https://www.jica.go.jp/india/english/office/topics/press170915_02.html.In addition, Japan also provides multi-modal logistics processing systems and sends experts to help India enhance its capacity to maintain railway safety.34Ibid.This strategy has gradually become the signature of India-Japan cooperation, winning public praise with less financial input and connecting both the roads and the people.

At the same time, India-Japan infrastructure cooperation is also facing some practical difficulties with the following major constraints. First, there is a gap between their plans for infrastructure projects and the local conditions of host countries. The India-Japan infrastructure cooperation often relies on the Geographical Simulation Model (GSM), which is jointly developed by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) and the Institute of Developing Economies affiliated with Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO), to estimate the economic impact of trade and transportation facilitation measures. Data analysis based on this model is applied to both the Comprehensive Asia Development Plan and the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, which appears to be scientific and quite rational, but the approach has proven faulty in practice, especially in Southeast Asia and Africa where local social and political conditions are highly complex and changeable. Data analysis based on this model often has to be scrapped as it cannot adapt to these changes. The Mekong-India Economic Corridor mentioned earlier is built upon a comprehensive analysis of 695 infrastructure projects that may bring economic benefits to the region, with the data showing that the new route from Dawei to Chennai may shorten the shipping time between ASEAN and India by 3 days and also greatly reduce transportation costs.35Takafumi Fujisawa and Kazuaki Yamamoto, eds., “2017 Progress Survey Report of Infrastructure Projects in CADP 2.0,” July 2018, pp.29-30, http://www.eria.org/uploads/media/Research-Project-Report/ERIA_RPR_FY2017_01.pdf.India and Japan tried to promote the construction of the Dawei Port, the Dawei Special Economic Zone and the surrounding expressways. However, the actual construction process has been affected by changes in political and economic landscape of Myanmar and Thailand. The development prospects of the Dawei Port are still unclear.36Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, “India, Japan to Develop Ports to Counter China.”

Second, specific local conditions in the two countries have also created potential obstacles to the cooperation. India and Japan share something in common with regard to their strategic intentions and national interests, but there are also significant differences in their diplomatic traditions and strategic priorities. Japan sees the Partnership for Quality Infrastructure as an important part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, trying to strengthen infrastructure cooperation with India to restrain and balance China's influence. However, India has long pursued the policy of non-alignment and is more inclined to keeping balance in its relationships with China, the US and Japan, while pursuing multidirectional partnerships.37Li Li, “New Trends in India’s Great-Power Strategy,” Contemporary International Relations, No.12, 2017, pp.19-21.It tries to balance China with the support of the US and Japan on the one hand, but at the same time often remains standoffish to them by playing the “China card” in order to raise its profile and enhance its international status.38Lan Jianxue, “ India’s ‘Link West’ Strategy: Origin, Progress and Prospects,” China International Studies, No.4, 2019, pp.131-154.Strategically, in its interpretation of the Indo-Pacific strategy, Japan stresses the implications of safeguarding the security of the Indian Ocean and the freedom of navigation with an eye to building a “community of shared values.” India's expectation of the cooperation, on the other hand, tends to be more economic, namely the fostering of common economic interests under the Indo-Pacific strategic framework, whether in India or in other Asian and African countries.39Lin Minwang, “Construction of ‘the Indo-Pacific’ and the Tension of Asian Geopolitics,” Foreign Affairs Review, No.1, 2018, pp.16-35.

Third, India and Japan are very different in their cultural traditions and national characters, which increases potential risks for their cooperation. Immersed in a milieu of multiculturalism, the Indian people tend to be argumentative, casual, or even undisciplined and careless, while in stark contrast, the Japanese are highly disciplined, punctual, and stick to details. Japanese culture, which distinguishes “the insiders” from “the outsiders,” finds it difficult to forge a regional awareness with regard to cooperation in East Asia or Asia, let alone sublimating its own interests to a greater good with global consciousness and universal concern for mankind.40Li Wen, “The Japanese Culture and Japan’s Diplomatic Dilemma,” Journal of Contemporary Asia-Pacific, No.12, 2007, pp.14-19.Cultural differences have therefore become a restraining factor in India-Japan infrastructure cooperation.

Fourth, there are difficulties in implementation of the cooperation. The reasons are two-fold. On the one hand, it is a question of both countries' willingness and input capacity. India has planned for grand industrial corridors domestically and tries to promote overseas infrastructure cooperation, but limited economic strength and strained budgets have forced India to seek external funding. Compared with India, Japan has advantages in capital and technology, but its Partnership for Quality Infrastructure is mainly funded by its official development aid, the Asian Development Bank, or private capital. With the relative decline of Japan's overall economic strength, and given that infrastructure investment usually has long cycles and low rates of return, it is also difficult to guarantee the needed input.41Meng Xiaoxu, “Partnership for Quality Infrastructure: The Japanese Initiative and Its Prospects,” China International Studies, No.3, 2017, pp.76-86.On the other hand, bureaucratic inefficiency and difficulty in acquiring land are prevalent in many Asian and African countries. Large infrastructure projects require lengthy examination and approval through various departments at different levels throughout the process of planning, surveying and construction. Laws and standards differ from country to country and land acquisition is generally difficult. As a result, many infrastructure projects have been in the planning stage for years, finding it difficult to actually start construction.

Impact of India-Japan Infrastructure Cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative

Through infrastructure cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, India and Japan are attempting to synergize their development policies and diplomatic strategies, and closely associate these with the US Indo-Pacific strategy and the US-India-Japan-Australia quartet mechanism, with an eye to balancing China's growing influence in the region. Therefore, India-Japan infrastructure cooperation has the geopolitical implications of competing with China and challenging its Belt and Road Initiative.

Under the framework of the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, India and Japan have put on the table a grand blueprint for infrastructure cooperation in Asia and Africa, which overlaps the construction of economic corridors in the Belt and Road Initiative, especially the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In South Asia, China has proposed the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor, which runs through northeastern India to connect the four countries. However, India has reservations about the initiative, afraid of China's “infiltration” of its northeastern region, and therefore actively seeks Japanese assistance to balance Chinese influence in development of the region and its cooperation with Myanmar and Bangladesh. In Southeast Asia, India and Japan have cooperated to build the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and the East-West Corridor extending to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as the Mekong-India Economic Corridor, which also compete with China's cooperation projects in the region. In Africa, India and Japan are working together for the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, focusing on the Mombasa Port in Kenya, the Zanzibar Port in Tanzania, and Djibouti, which is of strategic importance in the Gulf of Aden. Japan also helps with the expansion of the Mombasa Port and road construction in the port area. China, on the other hand, has a number of cooperation projects in the above-mentioned areas, including assistance to the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway of Kenya, construction of large pipelines for refined oil from Nairobi to Eldoret, the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway, and many other port construction projects. In the future, China is likely to compete with India and Japan in infrastructure construction and economic corridor projects in Africa.

That being said, in the vast Asian and African region, there is a huge shortfall in infrastructure investment. Regardless of the motivations of India and Japan, the construction of infrastructure facilities such as railways, highways and ports in regional countries will objectively help promote economic development of the countries and enhance connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region. This is in line with the original intention of the Belt and Road Initiative and is consistent with China's goal for global connectivity partnerships and achieving common development and prosperity. If China, Japan and India can work together in the region by abandoning political stereotypes, they will surely create an all-win situation.

Although India has misgivings and concerns about the Belt and Road Initiative and has joined with Japan to propose parallel initiatives such as the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, it should be noted that the two countries are also participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, albeit selectively and with an air of caution. In addition, China, India and Japan have their own individual characteristics and strengths in terms of infrastructure construction. All three countries emphasize high quality and sustainability, while China has distinct advantages in terms of capital, technology and costs in large-scale infrastructure projects, Japan is better in auditing and environmental standards, and India attaches more importance to the construction of soft facilities. The cooperation between China, India and Japan can become complementary, which would provide more choices for the target countries and also serve the three countries' respective vital interests.