If the DPJ had won the elections in 2005,India and China would have received priority attention in a Cabinet headed by Okada. Unfortunately, it did badly in the elections and Okada resigned from the leadership of the Party. Under Hatoyama, who took over the party leadership in May last, Okada's warm references to India disappeared from the manifesto of 2009. Despite his being the Secretary-General of the Party, Okada was apparently unable to make Hatoyama think of India too while finalising the manifesto. The only reference to India in it was not in the section on foreign policy, but in the section on environment under climate change.
Will Okada, as Foreign Minister, reiterate the importance of Indo-Japanese strategic relationship as part of the new Government's over-all strategic architecture? That is the question to which we in India should be looking for an answer. I have been reading the English language media reports from Tokyo ever since the DPJ won its historic victory in the recent elections. Hatoyama was very active in getting to know the heads of many diplomatic missions in Tokyo. The Heads of missions of the US, Russia, China and South Korea prominently figured in reports on his meetings with the diplomatic corps. I did not find the name of the Head of the Indian mission. One hopes it was an omission by the media and not by Hatoyama. There is, however, one important news, if it is correct. Hatoyama is planning a visit to India in December.
A word of caution about Okada would be in order. He used to believe that in order to stop Pakistani nuclear proliferation activites, attention needed to be paid to solving the Kashmir dispute. He reportedly believed that so long as the Kashmir dispute remained unresolved, Pakistan would continue to add to his nuclear arsenal by hook or by crook.
Some interesting quotes from Okada's pre-election interviews: