Within hours of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement that he would step down for health reasons, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished him a speedy recovery.
Analysis | Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister who raised Japan’s profile, deepened ties with India
“Pained to hear about your ill health, my dear friend [Shinzo Abe],” PM Modi wrote in tweet. “In recent years, with your wise leadership and personal commitment, the India-Japan partnership has become deeper and stronger than ever before,” he added. Mr. Modi also tweeted a photograph of both leaders from his visit to Mount Fuji in 2018, which was the last time the India-Japan annual summit was held. In December 2019, PM Abe had to cancel his visit to Guwahati, where he was due to meet PM Modi for the summit, due to violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and subsequently, his trip could not be scheduled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his first tenure as Prime Minister in 2006-2007 and then since 2012, Mr. Abe had made a particular push for better ties with India. The Quadrilateral, a forum between India, U.S., Japan, and Australia, was originally Mr. Abe’s idea, who called for an “arc of prosperity and freedom” across the Indo-Pacific. However, despite several attempts, and a strong friendship between the two leaders, he was unable to convince PM Modi to join the 15-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which India walked out of last year.
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