Manmohan Singh, Shinzo Abe hit it off, take aim at China

PM Manmohan Singh and his visiting Japan counterpart Shinzo Abe Saturday agreed to further deepen the strategic and global partnership between the two countries as two democracies in Asia sharing universal values such as freedom, democracy and rule of law. Singh said Japan was at the heart of India’s Look East policy.

The meeting saw Abe, who is the first Japanese PM to attend India’s Republic Day celebrations as chief guest, emphasize on the need for the two countries to contribute jointly to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world taking into account changes in the strategic environment, as a joint statement issued after the meeting said.