New Delhi, July 22 (UNI) The concept of Indo-Paciļ¬c was crystallized by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar said on Friday while praising Abe for developing a strong connection with India.
He said a strong connection between India and Japan was really part of the foundation of creating a free and open Indo-Paciļ¬c.
āHis conceptualism of the Indo Paciļ¬c it was a subject which was up in the air but he crystallized it. That was something that was visible in his address to the Indian Parliament. First, is the free Indo Pa- ciļ¬c, the idea that we cannot think and plan in a compartmentalized way. He strategized and concluded that we need a cooperative arrangement with new players,ā he said. The Minister was speaking at an event, held here to pay tribute to the former Japanese Prime Minister. āIndia always had a special place in his mind and heart. But I think India had a special place in his strategy as well. For him, developing a very strong connection between India and Japan was really the part of the foundation of creating a free and open Indo-Paciļ¬c,ā the minister said. Recalling Abe as a strategic person, Jaishankar said that he saw the big picture.
āWhat set Shinzo Abe apart, why do we think of him differently? More than any other Japanese politicians that I met, and I met quite a few in the last 25 years, Abe saw the big picture. He was a very strategic person. He understood the uncertain world, which was emerging in the ļ¬rst decade of this century, with much greater insight and intuition,ā he said. Jaishankar said that Abe developed a long interest in India and one of the expressions of that interest was actually to encourage India to do a trilateral with US and Japan. āFrom 2005, 2006, and 2007, the India Ja- pan relationship grew steadily and Shinzo Abeās ļ¬ngerprints were all over it for the next 15 years. If there is one relationship which singularly, personally, very devotedly transformed in ofļ¬ce, out of ofļ¬ce, this was it,ā the Minister said. Jaishankar said that Abe strove to create a rules-based order that recognizes the importance of democratic values.