Hiroshi F Suzuki: ‘India is a critical partner in the ultimate goal of creating a world without N-arms’

This Hiroshima G7 summit comes at a critical juncture when the world is faced with multiple challenges. And Prime Minister Kishida wants to highlight thematic issues.

First is the importance of rule of law because the Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown that Russia is destroying the core values, fundamental principles enshrined in the UN charter — sovereignty, territorial integrity, rule of law. If this is allowed to go on, without having to pay penalties, then we have a real risk of the entire world going back to the age of law of the jungle. We must not let this happen. We must not allow this kind of unilateral attempt to change the status quo anywhere in the world, not in the Indo-Pacific, not in the East China Sea, not in the South China Sea.

Second, PM Kishida wants to highlight the importance of engaging with the international community, in particular the Global South. Because, while the war in Ukraine is going on, we are faced with multiple challenges — food crisis, energy security, climate change, health and sustainable development. Those are all critical challenges.

And we are more effective when we are united; we can address these challenges better when we are united. So he (Kishida) wants to work closely with Prime Minister Modi so that what we discuss and deliver at the G7 summit paves the way for the New Delhi G20 summit in September.

Third, is the importance of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament because the venue of the G7 summit is Hiroshima, which is PM Kishida’s hometown and his constituency. So he wants to reaffirm the importance of making progress toward the idea of a world without nuclear weapons.

Now, this cannot be done overnight, but we should take the first step. Why? Because (Russia President Vladimir) Putin is threatening to use nuclear weapons. And we have the continuing record of 77 years of nuclear weapons not being used. So the Japanese PM wants to reaffirm that it is critically important that the international community continues to move forward with this unbroken record and takes the first step toward nuclear disarmament. And he wants to emphasise transparency.

Japan is the only country to have gone through the horrors of nuclear bombs. He wants to bridge the gap between different groups — nuclear weapons state, non-nuclear weapons states… We need to create more trust and for that, he wants to stress the importance of transparency.

What is the significance of India’s presence at Hiroshima? India is the only country in the G7 leaders’ summit which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)?

India’s presence is extremely important because, even though it has not signed the NPT, it still shares this ultimate goal of realising a world without nuclear weapons. It has a good record of nonproliferation. So, India can be a very important interlocutor to bridge the differences among various groups. Because with Putin’s threat of use of nuclear weapons, we are now having this challenge of nuclear weapons becoming a sort of an extension of conventional weapons. That is not the case.

If you visit Hiroshima once, you can see with your own eyes what kind of indescribable horrors the people there went through. So clearly Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be the last (nuclear bomb horrors). No more Hiroshima, no more Nagasaki. Because of Putin’s rhetoric, this has put that to risk. Prime Minister Kishida wants to form a coalition of like-minded countries. A world without nuclear weapons cannot be achieved by Japan. It has to be a concerted effort by all the states in the world and for that, India is a critically important partner, because it shares, Prime Minister Modi shares, this ultimate idea of creating a world without nuclear weapons.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, India and Japan have differences in their approach towards the war. How do you see New Delhi’s position and what is the common ground?

Japan fully understands where India stands in the context of Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.

Prime Minister Kishida aims to achieve two things — one is to send a strong message that Russia cannot go on like this. If a big State can bully neighbouring smaller countries, and go unpunished, then other countries will get tempted: Oh, if Russia can do it, we can do likewise. So this has a real risk of generating so many more conflicts around the world.

And since we are at a critical juncture, we want to send a strong message so he wants to reaffirm G7’s unity on assistance to Ukraine as long as it is needed, and at the same time, unity among the G7 countries in imposing stiff sanctions on Russia. At the same time, we need to address pressing global issues. So, he wants to generate more unity in the international community and how to do it is where India comes in. Because Prime Minister Modi can speak with legitimacy as the voice of the Global South. Prime Minister Modi hosted the Global South summit back in January and spoke to more than 100 countries’ leaders.

In Hiroshima, Prime Minister Kishida wants Prime Minister Modi to explain in person, face-to-face with the leaders of the G7 countries, plus the heads of states of invited countries, what he wants to put on the agenda for the September G20 summit, because G20 is the world’s premier economic forum.

If G20 cannot address these kinds of pressing issues, then nobody can. With all due respect to the UN, at the UN we talk so much about challenges, issues, but then again, the progress tends to be slow. So, for G20, we have a greater chance of setting the international agenda and amassing the kind of capabilities that G20 members have individually. United we have a much better chance of addressing these issues — food crisis, energy security, climate change, sustainable development and health. Prime Minister Modi is the key leader and, in fact, he is the leader to whom Prime Minister Kishida looks to among the invited countries because this close cooperation, collaboration in bringing about synergy between the G7 and G20 is vitally important.

China’s aggression has been a topic of shared concern for India and Japan. How does New Delhi and Tokyo view Beijing’s belligerence in the context of the Russia-Ukraine war?

This is one of the very important issues that Prime Minister Kishida wants to discuss, because in his eyes war in Ukraine is not just a war in Europe. It has global implications… Unilateral attempts to change the status quo must not be permitted anywhere around the world… From time to time, more than too often, China makes unilateral attempts to change the status quo and we are encouraged to see India upholding principled stance that, in fact, such unilateral attempts must not be allowed. So to reaffirm this critically important principle, India is a vital partner for Prime minister Kishida.

You have been associated with Prime Minister Abe for a long time. And you have also observed the meetings between him and PM Modi. What are the key takeaways from those meetings?

I first met Prime minister Abe in 2005, when then Prime Minister Koizumi reshuffled his cabinet Mr. Abe became the number two minister in the cabinet. And I became his private secretary for foreign affairs, seconded from the foreign minister. That’s how we met for more than 17 years now.

At that time, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Abe was talking passionately about the importance of the Japan-India partnership. And one year later, he became the Prime Minister and I became his spokesperson for the international press. I accompanied him on his visit to Delhi, where he delivered a speech on the confluence of the two seas. I was in the Indian Parliament, listening to his speech… later came to be known as free and open Indo-Pacific. In 2006, he started talking to (former) PM Manmohan Singh… Prime Minister Abe was arguing for the creation of Quad… maybe the time was a bit too early for that.

But when he came back to power again at the end of December 2012, he lost no time in arguing for the importance of creating the Quad. So while he was the Prime Minister, he had 15 bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Modi. And I sat in on each one of them. And I could see that those two visionaries had deep respect for each other and they were on the same page. Their vision was that peace and prosperity is critically important not just in the Indo-Pacific but the entire world. That India and Japan should take the lead in preserving peace, in creating prosperity, because we are two democracies and we share freedom. We share the fundamental principles of rule of law. That was his vision. So you can now see the results. Now India and Japan enjoy global partnership, which is both strategic and special. Based on that, Prime Minister Kishida is building on further strengthening and expanding this special global and strategic partnership.

Since you have talked about the strategic partnership, what are the possible new areas of cooperation between the two countries?

We want to build on the existing special partnership. I want to strengthen and expand existing cooperation, cooperation in defence and security areas, cooperation on diplomatic areas, strengthening trade and investment, strengthening business and expanding more economic ties, and finally, strengthening and expanding people-to-people exchange. Those are my agenda building on what is already existing but I want to build and bolster much more in all those fields. I want to highlight the importance of connecting India’s Northeast with Bangladesh to create a new industrial value chain. I want to push the Japan-India partnership in the areas of climate change to a new dimension by concluding a joint printing mechanism between the two countries. I want to see more Indian people going to Japan and working in important sectors of caregiving, agriculture and hospitality.