"Am I therefore become your enemy,because I TELL YOU THE TRUTH...?"
(Galatians 4:16)

Japanese PM calls for 'arc of freedom' spanning Pacific

NEW DELHI-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called for a new four-way "arc of freedom and prosperity" with India, Australia and the United States on Wednesday in a speech to the Indian parliament."A new broader Asia that broke away from geographical boundaries is now beginning to take on a distinct form," said Abe, who began a three-day visit to India on Tuesday.Japan is working to ensure that "a region called the 'arc of freedom and prosperity' will be formed along the outer rim of the Eurasian continent," Abe told Indian lawmakers."The strategic global partnership of Japan and India is pivotal for such pursuits to be successful," he added."By Japan and India coming together in this way, this 'broader Asia' will evolve into an immense network spanning the entirety of the Pacific Ocean incorporating the United States of America and Australia," he said.The backbone of the four-way strategic and economic alliance would be the sharing of basic values such as freedom, democracy as well as economic clout, Abe said."Open and transparent, this network will allow people, goods, capital and knowledge to flow freely," the prime minister told Indian lawmakers.Abe also called for the early conclusion of a "high-quality economic partnership" with India and forecast a more than doubling of trade between the two nations to 20 billion dollars in three years from eight billion currently.His remarks came after top Japanese and Indian commerce officials at a business forum vowed to see the partnership pact realised by December."India and Japan need to jointly meet the challenges of the new economic architecture," Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said, adding he would work to ensure "this agreement by the end of the year."Abe, who is accompanied by nearly 200 top Japanese executives, was slated to meet Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh later Wednesday to discuss a number of investment projects including a New Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.Abe is due on Thursday to meet the son of the late Radhabinod Pal, the lone judge who dissented at the Allied tribunal that condemned to death war-time Japanese leaders."Justice Pal is highly respected even today by many Japanese for the noble spirit of courage he exhibited during the International Military Tribunal for the Far East," said Abe, whose grandfather was charged but never tried for war crimes.Abe has dismissed suggestions that meeting Pal's son would anger other Asian nations resentful over Japan's war-time atrocities.