India will suffer great losses if it joins Japan on SCS, warns China's state media

India may suffer "great losses" in bilateral trade if it joins Japan during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to ask China to abide by an international tribunal's ruling quashing Beijing's claims over disputed South China Sea (SCS), Chinese media warned on Wednesday.

"India should beware of the possibility that by becoming embroiled in the disputes, it might end up being a pawn of the US and suffer great losses, especially in terms of business and trade, from China," an oped article in state-run Global Times said.

Citing media reports that India is seeking support from Tokyo during Modi's visit to Japan this week to issue a joint statement asking China to abide by July ruling of the tribunal on the SCS, it said, "India and China should put more efforts into resolving problems like the imbalance of their trade ties".

"India won't benefit much by balancing China through Japan. It will only lead to more mistrust between New Delhi and Beijing," it said.

"India's proposal to make new waves in the SCS first came to Singapore last month, but Singapore, a master of the rebalancing strategy, snubbed it. The rejection shows India lacks legitimacy and leadership in making new waves in the SCS," the article said.

It also pointed out that with the recent visit to China of Rodrigo Duterte, the new President of Philippines, the country that filed arbitration case against Beijing, the SCS dispute "passed pinnacle of tensions".

"India should realise that the SCS disputes have passed the pinnacle of tensions after the announcement of the arbitration result, and some involved parties have begun to reflect on their old way of addressing the disputes - creating conflicts without seeking productive bilateral negotiations.

The Philippines, once a major aggressive claimant against China, has restored its relationship with China," it said.

The article which comes in the backdrop of recent meeting at Hyderabad between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi said India wants to scale up its stand on the SCS in retaliation to Beijing blocking India's bid to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

"India knows that it is not yet qualified for membership in the NSG, according to the organisation's rules. China's decision was simply a fulfillment of its international duties.

It is preposterous for Indian media and government to scapegoat China as a troublemaker, and seek revenge by making more troubles," it said.

"As a non-claimant to the South China Sea and an outsider that has no traditional influence on the region, India has been paying keen attention to any activity, because the country has adopted a 'Look East' foreign policy since Modi took office," the article said.

"India, however, seems to have overestimated its leverage in the region. Although China's major rivals in the dispute, such as the US and Japan, have been trying to draw India into their camp, the country will be likely regarded as having a token role," it said.

The article said as "regional major power in Asia, India does not feel at ease with China, a larger and more powerful neighbour".

"It admires China's imposing changeover, especially its economic takeoff, but it has never relaxed its wariness of China's rise," it said, adding that "the complicated feelings could drive India to make mistakes in its China policy".

Another article in the same daily - titled 'India won t be Japan s geopolitical tool' - criticised Japan for relaxing its rules to sign a civil nuclear deal with India.

"India has refused to sign the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and meanwhile possesses nuclear weapons. Under this situation, selling nuclear technology to New Delhi will taint Tokyo's reputation of advocating for a nuclear weapons-free world. In fact, Abe is using international law as a tool to safeguard his self- interest, only referring to it to satisfy his needs. Japan is so pragmatic in its diplomacy. The technology agreements are de facto political deals between Japan and India," it said.

It also questioned the bullet train agreement between the two countries. "Given Japan's costly high-speed technology and India's relatively under-developed economy, whether the rail project will produce profits is unknown," it said.

China is also bidding for building high speed train network in India and is currently conducting a feasibility study for Delhi-Chennai railway corridor.

For Japan and India, technological cooperation will enhance their cooperation in security, a critical way for Japan to contain China's growing strength, it said.

"But containing China is not Modi's ultimate purpose.
Despite its rapid economic growth, India's development is still backward in many ways. What Modi therefore cares most about is reviving the nation's economy and enhancing its strength," it said.

"India has no intention and cannot afford to join Japan and contain China since it needs China's investment and financial support for development. However, considering its disputes with China, India to some extent wants to use Japan to bargain with China.

"What Modi wants is to benefit from Tokyo and Beijing when they are at odds, like Duterte has done. Hence the so-called Japan-India cooperation is a tool for the two sides to use each other for political gains," it said.

At present, top leaders in some East and South Asian countries like Japan, India, Myanmar and the Philippines, are tough in their domestic policies to develop and upgrade their industries, it said.

"This has given China an opportunity to break US-Japan containment and expand its influences. If China can share common interests with India as emerging industrial countries, it will counterbalance the mutual benefits of India and Japan being democratic countries," it said.

"As emerging countries, China and India have common economic interests in many aspects, and need to jointly face challenges posed by developed countries. How to boost cooperation between China and India is a key issue concerning the economic development of developing countries in the future," it said.