Shinzo Abe in India: Japan trying to contain China says Beijing media

With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visiting India with big-ticket deals for bullet trains and defence exports on the agenda, the media in Beijing has accused Tokyo of courting India "to contain and besiege China".
There was, however, "no need for China to be too concerned" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government  was "quite cautious" in balancing ties with Beijing and Tokyo, wrote Zhao Gancheng, a leading South Asia expert at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, in a commentary in the Communist Party-run Global Times, a tabloid known for hard-line views.
Zhao said "Abe will not miss any chance to draw Modi over to his side to counter China," which explains why Tokyo would offer "generous terms" to New Delhi in securing a first ever bullet train contact, beating competition from China.

Yet on security matters, the view in Beijing is that despite India taking forward closer ties with Tokyo in the past year, for instance by inviting Japan to take part in annual Malabar naval exercises with the United States after a gap of many years - a move that concerned Beijing - India "has no intention to take sides between China and Japan, aware that setting itself against Beijing will bring no good to New Delhi".
Zhao argued, "India is hoping to hitchhike on China's rise to obtain more economic benefits, and thus is unwilling to offend the world's second largest economy. Knowing that China-Japan relationship is far from perfect, the Indian government is cautious in developing its ties with Tokyo, so as to leave itself some leeway in handling its relations with Beijing."
"Given its high expectations toward investments from both Japan and China," he concluded, "New Delhi is attempting to strike a balance between the two countries."