Describing former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the first leader to think “beyond alliances”, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday paid tributes to the late leader who had first proposed the Australia-India-Japan-U.S. Quadrilateral, or ‘Quad’ dialogue in the Indo-Pacific.
Mr. Jaishankar was speaking at the launch of the book, The Importance of Shinzo Abe, which documents the former Japanese Prime Minister’s engagement with India, and in particular his relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Japan’s Ambassador to India Hiroshi Suzuki, who served with Abe during both his tenures as Prime Minister, recalled how even though the Quad didn’t succeed the first time, after Australia pulled out of it in 2008, Abe made it his priority as soon as he returned to power in 2012, and the grouping was eventually revived in 2017.
“I say this, to some degree out of in person conversations with him, Abe was actually a person who foresaw a world beyond alliances, than perhaps any alliance leader or G-7 politician of that era,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
“His relationship with Dr. Manmohan Singh was wonderful, but he had a special relationship with Mr. Modi,” Mr. Suzuki said, referring to Abe’s invitation to Mr. Modi to visit his cottage near Mt. Fuji in 2018, which he said was not a courtesy he extended to any other leader.
The book contains 16 essays by scholars in India and Japan, and includes a foreword by Mr. Jaishankar.
The event in Delhi on Thursday brought together a number of diplomats and officials who had worked on the India-Japan relationship, as well as the Ambassadors of Bhutan and Denmark, who had dealt with Japan during Abe’s tenure as Prime Minister.
The book has been edited by columnist Sanjaya Baru, who served as media adviser to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Mr. Baru recalled Abe’s “Confluence of seas” speech delivered in the Indian Parliament in 2007, where he first promoted the idea of the “Indo-Pacific” rather than the more land-centric “Asia Pacific”.
When Mr. Jaishankar, a former diplomat, was posted in Tokyo in the 1990s, he had helped introduce PM Singh to Abe before he became Prime Minister of Japan.
Mr. Suzuki was Abe’s Spokeperson for International Media, when Abe made the famous speech, and subsequently served as Executive Secretary to Abe (2012-2020).
In July 2022, after Abe was assassinated during a campaign rally in Japan, Mr. Suzuki also oversaw ceremonial arrangements for the slain leader as the Adviser to the Special Secretariat for the State funeral. He was subsequently posted to Delhi.
Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa, who was Ambassador to Japan (2012-2015) when Abe came back to power, also spoke at the event, recalling Abe’s surprise appearance at an event held in Tokyo on India’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, and his special interest in ties with India.
“The genius of Abe was to understand [the importance of the U.S. alliance] and yet beyond that look for options,explore possibilities. [That] is not a world rejecting alliances or a world without alliances. It is a world where alliances coexist with other relationships ... a much more multipolar world,” Mr. Jaishankar said, referring to the fact that India joined the Quad as the only member that is not in a military alliance as the U.S. and Japan and the U.S. and Australia are together.
In his tribute, Mr. Suzuki said Abe was a “fighter politician right until the moment he was assassinated”, given Abe’s push for the Quad and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) economic grouping.
“Abe didn’t succeed at building the Quad the first time around (2006-2007). While he was in the PM’s office, he [worked hard at it]. As soon as he stepped down (In September 2007), Australia said, “bye bye” to this concept of [the Indo-Pacific], but he didn’t give up. And as soon as he came back to power, the second time in December 2012, he told me ‘Mr. Suzuki, I’m going to try again with the concept of Quad, because I really want to make this happen’,” he said.
