Japanese Relations With India, Pakistan and Bangladesh

THE ASIAN IMAGE of the Japanese system of government as oligarchical at home and expansionist abroad has led many South Asians to believe that Japan has actually been playing a political role in world politics through its foreign aid programs. This article* attempts to show, however, that the post-war relations ofJapan with India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been chiefly economic in nature, in spite of opportunities presented to Japan to use its industrial power to revive its pre-war political ambitions.1 Japanese post-war involvement with South Asian countries has been both gradual and cautious. Starting with a low-keyed approach in 1952, when under the Colombo Plan Japan gave small outright grants to both India and Pakistan, by 1970, she had become one of the largest donors-cum-traders in the subcontinent. Maturity attained through national sufferings2 prompted the Japanese policy-makers to continue their non-political participation in the development of South Asian countries. From time to time Japanese relations with India and Pakistan (and Bangladesh) were clouded with conflicts of values, mistrust and general frustration. Yet the damage was always repaired by Japanese perseverance in following a policy of mutual benefit. Whether it was Indian iron or Pakistani cotton or Bangladeshi natural

Ancient history · Geography · Political science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography · Bangladesh Politics, Society, and Development · History · Indian Economic and Social Development

• Japan–Bangladesh Relations

  Open Access•Mahfuzul H Chowdhury•International Studies•2008

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