When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives in Tokyo on December 13 for a four-day visit to Japan, he will be received by his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, who doesn’t hesitate to say he wants “A stronger Japan for a stronger India, and a stronger India for a stronger Japan.”

In an interview in his glass-paneled office overlooking the Diet in Tokyo, he spoke of his belief in a “strategic global partnership” between the two countries — one that would cover the entire spectrum of “political issues, security matters, economic co-operation, and people-to-people contacts.”

Only then, he said, would the two countries be able to “fully tap the potential of our bilateral relationship and the vast opportunities hidden in it.” The partnership, he said, would also “enhance the voice of our two countries on important matters in international affairs.”

Indo-Japanese relations at present show a great mismatch: there’s great mutual affinity, but very little economic or political co-operation. India and Japan have never had any conflict, and are unlikely to have any. Yet, except for Maruti-Suzuki, the Delhi Metro, and lately, Toyota, Japanese presence in India is marginal.

In contrast, Japan and China, which do not share the warmest of political and diplomatic relations, have strong economic relations: 30,000 Japanese companies do business in China, against only 340 in India; 80,000 Chinese students study in Japan, against only 400 from India. Even Mongolia has 900 students studying in Japan.

And there are 70 direct daily flights between Japan and China, against only one between Delhi and Tokyo.

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