Regarding Jeffrey Hornung's Sept. 7 article, "Shared regional interests draw Japan and India closer": I am an Indian with a small number of very dear Japanese friends. We share a trait that sets us apart from many white Westerners, while drawing us closer to the Chinese. This trait relates to our focus on presenting pictures of harmony, while carefully brushing confrontation and differences under the proverbial carpet.
But consider the yawning gap between the respective positions of India and China on nuclear power. Then consider whether India would ever accept the military hegemony of the United States on its territory as Japan so uncharacteristically — by a historical perspective — has done.
Let us also keep in mind that India's policies are fashioned by an entrenched polity with the bureaucracy in the back seat, whereas Japan is governed in an almost opposite manner.
Technology holds a liberating key for India and Japan to present a bulwark against the projected menace of China. Outer space, new energy forms and biotechnology can leverage relationships between these two great cultures to new heights, while keeping our differences soundly below the boil.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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