【ニッポンの新常識】 Common Knowledge Revisited(46)
昔から縁深い日本とインド 新幹線で「さらなる友好」期待
Long-time Friends India and Japan: Looking Forward to Increased Friendship with Shinkansen Project
http://www.zakzak.co.jp/society/domestic/news/20151219/dms1512191000005-n1.htm
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited India the other day. At his summit meeting with Prime Minister Modi, they agreed to adopt the Japanese shinkansen (bullet train) system for a high-speed rail line between Mumbai and Ahmadabad. Prime Minister Abe stated “This is a worthy project for the beginning of a new era of India-Japan relations,” and I agree with that assessment.
According to statistics for 2014, the most populous country is the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with 1.37 billion people, and India is second with 1.28 billion people. With a world population of 7.12 billion people, these two countries make up approximately 23% of the world’s population.
It is expected that India’ population will eventually overtake that of China, which has had a one-child policy for 35 years, but comparing the nominal GDP of these two countries, PRC is at 10 trillion dollars (about 1.2189 quadrillion yen) while India stands at about one-fifth of that or 2 trillion dollars (about 243 trillion yen).
However, as a result of the fact that from the eighteenth century until 1947 India was a colony of Great Britain, a large portion of the population speaks fluent English, and the people are quite advanced with, for example, excellent mathematical skills.
The country faces many issues including a large income gap and tension between Hindus and Muslims, but India’s future potential is without doubt first in the world.
Not only for India but for other countries which were subjected to colonial rule by European powers for several hundred years, the most important reason they were able to rise up and throw off colonial oppression after World War II was the victory of Japan in the Russo-Japanese War. The people most unaware of the significance of the shock of the victory of Japan, a non-white small country, over the white country of Russia are the Japanese.
Mahatma Gandhi who led India’s independence movement with his non-violent civil disobedience immediately comes to mind, but Japanese must not forget Subhas Chandra Bose, a hero who, with the full assistance of the Japanese military, led the Indian military during the war. He died in an accident, and his remains are interred at Renkoji Temple in Suginami-ku, Tokyo.
Radhabinod Pal, a judge at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (Tokyo Trials) who held that all of the defendants charged were not guilty was an Indian. Japan and India have long-standing ties and enjoy very good relations.
Beginning in the 1980s, Japan put great effort into China, developing airports, ports, expressways and other projects through ODA (overseas development assistance). Many Japanese companies built factories in the PRC, provided technical assistance, and cooperated in development, but in recent years the PRC has returned good with evil. It is no wonder that many companies are ending their investments in the PRC.
We can look forward with anticipation to a new era of relations with India under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe.
東京大素読会12/23（水・祝） 明治記念館
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