Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who arrived in Kolkata on Thursday during the second leg of his three-day Indian visit, said his country expects West Bengal to play a key role in strengthening Indo-Japanese ties.
Kolkata, Aug 23 : Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who arrived in Kolkata on Thursday during the second leg of his three-day Indian visit, said his country expects West Bengal to play a key role in strengthening Indo-Japanese ties.
After inaugurating the "Rabindra-Okakura Bhavan" an Indo-Japan cultural centre at Salt Lake City in Kolkata, Abe said, "Turning to the present day relationship between Japan and Bengal in economic... and many other spheres are only growing deeper."
He said Mitsubishi, Japan's biggest trading house, which has established its presence here plans to triple the productive capacity by 2009.
Abe further said that by the end of August a new course for training and factory leaders will be started in the Indian Institute of Management with the Japanese support.
Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee used the occasion to pay tribute to Radhabinod Pal, Indian judge who opposed the punishing of Japanese war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal, a move that was criticised by other Asia countries after the end of the Second World War.
"We all know that people of Japan owe the great Indian patriot Subhash Chandra Bose in great esteem. We also pay rich tributes to the late justice Radhabinod Pal, a great friend of Japan. Our cultural relationship with Japan is based on mutual appreciation and respect," said Bhattacharjee.
Abe also met Pal's son, Prasanta Pal, 81, during his Kolkata visit, a move that has come under fire in some other Asia countries.
An editorial last week in Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's biggest newspaper, criticised Abe's meeting in an editorial, saying that it was aimed at claiming innocence for the war criminals.
Japanese media have said Abe's call on Pal, who accompanied his father on a trip of Japan in 1966, in Kolkata could fray improving relations with China, which suffered under Japan's military aggression in the early 20th century.
Pal, was the only one on the eleven-judge Allied panel to voice dissent, saying that the tribunal at the end of Second World War was judgment of the vanquished by the victors.
Pal senior, however, said there was overwhelming evidence of atrocities committed by the Japanese military.
He is revered by Japanese nationalists and a monument dedicated to him even stands on the grounds of the Yasukuni Shrine, seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's wartime militarism.
Abe's grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, the late Prime Minister, was listed as a war criminal, but never tried by the US authorities.
Abe has rejected suggestions that his meeting with Pal would invite protests from Asian neighbours. Japanese officials point out how he has moved swiftly to mend ties with China and South Korea, visiting the two countries within weeks of taking office last September.
Abe is wrapping up his three-day visit to India, which was designed to boost trade between Asia's largest and third-largest economies and counter China's growing strength.
ANI