Be wary of Japan, Chinese daily tells India

Beijing, Sep 18 (IANS) India should be wary of being misled by Japan in confronting China, a commentary in a Chinese newspaper has said.

Tokyo benefits from New Delhi's face-off with Beijing, said the commentary in the state-run Global Times, pointing out how Japan took part in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May which India boycotted.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "globe-trotting diplomacy" to besiege China can only be construed as a bargaining chip with Beijing because Tokyo doesn't really want to confront the latter, said the article, authored by Long Xingchun, a senior research fellow at the Charhar Institute and director of the Centre for Indian Studies at China West Normal University.

"In fact, China, Japan and India - the three major Asian powers - can foster pragmatic cooperation, which could be a win-win situation for regional progress and development as well," it said.

Abe paid a three-day visit to India which ended on Friday. It was his third visit in four years to India, a rarity for a Japanese Prime Minister.

The commentary underlined that Abe was the brain behind transforming India-Japan ties such as clinching the landmark civil nuclear deal in November 2016.

It said that while huge potential exists in cooperation between the two countries, every time the Indian and Japanese leaders meet, both consider China as their first priority.