From Global Partnership between Japan and India"" to ""Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnershaip"": An Analysis of Japan's Diplomatic Strategy toward India from 2000 to 2015""

Due to the rise of China and the US “Pivot to Asia” strategy, scholars are paying more attention to the impact of Japan-India cooperation on the Asian regional order With more conversation since 2000, Japan and India rapidly strengthened the bilateral ties and have been developing their partnership. Japanese prime minister Yoshirou Mori visited India in August 2000, with “Japan-India Global Partnership in the 21st Century” being established and full cooperation being acknowledged. In December 2006, their relations were further defined as “Japan-India Strategic and Global Partnership,” through which, they jointly redefined the goal for Asian regional order. In 2014, Japan and India established “Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership”, which was undeniably aimed at China. This made India’s strategic position closer to the US-Japan alliance and indirectly enhanced the capability of preventing the Asian regional order from being challenged. 　Reviewing the literature relating to Japan-India relations, prospects for the development of Japan-India relations can be grouped into three categories of views - “optimistic” “optimistic but conditional” and “suspicious”. This thesis, based on the theory of “One Hegemon Plus Four Major Powers”, embeds Japan-India relations in the current international structure, “One Hegemon Plus Four Major Powers”. It analyzes how Japan responded to the US-China competition, searches for Japan’s strategic position in Asia, explains India’s reactions, and predicts the development of Japan-India relations. The thesis concludes that Japan-India relations are constrained by the environment, which is the international system, “One Hegemon Plus Four Major Powers”. Containing China through “Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan” is the core of the Japan-India cooperation. As long as the system of “One Hegemon Plus Four Major Powers,” remains fundamentally unchanged while the US and China making efforts balancing each other, Japan-India relations will keep developing in order to handle the pressure from the international system of “One Hegemon Plus Four Major Powers”.