The Indo-Japan Cordiality

India and Japan have always shared a cordial relationship.

From India’s view, besides adopting market-driven economic development growth strategy, it also strived for achieving larger regional and global role for itself. India strengthened its relationship with USA, continually aimed for a permanent seat on the UNSC and aspired for a blue water navy. This shift in India’s foreign policy approach led to the deepening of bilateral tiesbetween India and Japan in strategic and economic realms. In 2000, Japan’s Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro visited India following which India and Japan bilateral ties strengthened. The Prime Minister’s visit was a major turning point in India-Japan relationship. Japan started treating India as an important regional ally and even declared that India is its global partner. Since then, India and Japan embarked on a journey for broadening and deepening their bilateral relation and even for meeting global, regional challenges. In the backdrop of this meeting, number of joint statements was issued in the upcoming years that explored the multidimensional perspective of India-Japan relationship.In April 2005, a “strategic” dimension was introduced by India in the bilateral partnership during the visit of Koizumi Junichiro. The 2007 joint statement released during the visit of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, sought to explore new dimensions in the partnership. The 2008 joint statement during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit mentioned that the strategic and global partnership between India and Japan had advanced. In 2009, the joint statement released, stated a “new stage” in the partnership. These joint statements portray the similarity that exists in the security and strategic interests of both the countries.

Recent Rise of India-Japan Friendship

India-Japan relationship has been strengthening since 2000. In the recent times both the countries have entered into bilateral agreements in the field of economy and security. Prime Minister Modi took India-Japan relationship further and 5 summit meetings were held between India and Japan between 2014 and 2018. The first meeting in 2014 established the Tokyo Declaration which enhanced the bilateral ties into a special ‘Strategic and Global Partnership’. In 2015, a joint statement was issued that laid down the vision for 2025 Special Strategic and Global Partnership for cooperative working of both the nations towards establishment of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region as well as in the world. Prime Minister Modi has focussed on developing the defence cooperation with Japan. In 2014, both countries signed the Memorandum of Cooperation and Exchanges in the Field of Defence and in 2015 two more agreements were signed for transfer of defence equipment and technology. In 2018 summit, Prime Ministers of India and Japan agreed to create a new Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue which would help in strengthening defence cooperation.

In the Tokyo summit, Japan set a target of doubling its direct investment and the number of private companies in India. Japan has also assured its support in India’s programmes of ‘Make-in India’, ‘Digital India’ and ‘Skill India’ and has also invested funds in the form of Official Development Assistance for projects in the field of infrastructure, energy, transport, connectivity etc. Since 2014, the Japanese private investment in India has also witnessed a spike with India setting up measure for removing bureaucratic hurdles in the concerned projects. India’s approach of “Act East Policy” has been centred on Japan playing a key role in development of India’s Northeast region. Further, India is strategically positioned between two choke points for global oil supplies i.e. the Strait of Malacca to the east and the Strait of Hormuz to the west. This positioning of India is of extreme importance for Japan due to its dependence on imports of oil from the Persian Gulf that has to pass through this route. The Strait of Malacca is a vital lifeline for Japan’s international trade, and it is important for Japan to secure the Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOCs) for its economy. In this backdrop, Japan and India have come together for increasing and developing their naval cooperation.

India-Japan Partnership with Respect to Rise of China in The Region

After World War-II, Japan pursued its foreign policy without any military forces because the United States protected it from external forces. It focussed on economic cooperation for fostering its development. However, certain factors pushed Japan to adopt significant security measures in order to safeguard it and in order to stabilise the region. The security concerns faced by Japan were from rise of China as a modern military power and its strategic reach on Taiwan, Tibet, South China sea etc, North Korea’s nuclear and missile capabilities, Asia becoming the new epicentre for nuclear proliferation due to countries like North Korea, Pakistan, significant threat to Japan’s international trade, energy supplies due to state as well as non-state actors. Further, the decline of presence of United States in Asia and the subsequent power projection of China has called for re-emergence of Japan as a leading power in the region. In 2009, Japan witnessed a political transition from the long rule of LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) to Democratic Party of Japan(DPJ). The DPJ’s foreign policy approach is more focussed on orienting Japan towards Asian nations along with equal cooperation and partnership with USA.

China has extended its reach into the India Ocean with a naval base in Djibouti that occupies a strategic position in the Gulf of Aden. Further, China’s Belt Road Initiative, dealings with Sri Lanka, Maldives etc is a strategic attempt to gain control in the region. China’s influence has upset Asia’s geopolitical balance. In response to this, India has been striving for maintaining a balance in the region in line with its goal of multi polar world. India is seen as significant for balancing the region and for countering China’s monopolistic policies. India has been involved in developing its military ties with USA, Australia, Japan and other nations. Japan and India have already expressed their views of standing together to face China and bring about stability in the region. India and Japan have been involved in joint declarations on security cooperation, military exercises like the Malabar exercise along with USA, joint exercises in all three wings of the defence forces, the Dharma Guardian land exercise, the Shinyu Maitri aerial exerciseetc.India and Japan have also been conducting joint summits in order to strengthen their naval cooperation for securing the SLOCs. Japan’s economic power and India’s size and location make both important pillars in the Indo-Pacific strategy that aims for establishing political stability in the region. Both Japan and India have maintained a policy approach of engaging with China in order to ensure rise of China without disturbing the regional equilibrium. India and Japan have also been actively involved in India-Japan Act East Forum that is symbolic of their united stand against China’s One Belt-One Road initiative.

Recent Examples of India-Japan Close Cooperation

India and Japan have built a strong strategic partnership in the last few years. During the term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India-Japan relationship witnessed a boost with number of mutual agreements and exercises being undertaken for enhancing the ties between the nations. In 2014, India and Japan signed the Memorandum of Cooperation and Exchanges in the defence sector. Besides this, both India and Japan have supported cooperative research in areas like Unmanned Ground Vehicles and Robotics. India has relaxed its rules in order to motivate entry of foreign technologies in the defence sector and based on this both India and Japan have been striving to take cooperative action on the purchase of Japan’s US-2 amphibian aircraft by India. Japan has also promised to manufacture 30% of the P-8i maritime patrol aircraft in India which would boost India’s efforts of becoming a defence manufacturing hub. India and Japan have also signed a bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation pact under which India can import nuclear power generation technology from Japan but only for civilian purposes and not for any military purpose or not for transferring the technology to other nations.

In 2016, India and Japan also started discussion on development of Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) so that greater integration could be achieved in the Indo-Pacific region by involving nations like Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh etc. Japan has also assured financial assistance to India for development of India’s first high-speed Shinkansen rail system that will connect Ahmedabad and Mumbai and will improve connectivity in the region and enhance regional economic development. India and Japan held their first 2+2 defence and foreign ministerial dialogue in December-2019. In this, the progress made in the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) was welcomed by minister of both the nations. ACSA is a logistic sharing agreement that would allow Japan to access Indian naval facilities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and it would also allow India to access Japan’s naval facilities in Djibouti. This agreement is a significant step in improving the logistic capabilities of both India and Japan in the region. Japan and India have also been focussing on developing their digital infrastructure. In 2018, the Japan-India Digital Partnership was launched which aims to cooperate in cyber security and for dissemination of next generation technologies.

Conclusion

The strategic environment in Asia is in a state of dramatic flux. The rise of China in military and economic field has been a cause of concern for both India and Japan. India and Japan have had cordial relations since after World War-II. However, the recent rise of China, its monopolistic tendencies and aggressive approach in the South-China Sea in order to regulate the world trade has pushed India and Japan closer. Though China is not the only reason for the deepening ties between India and Japan, yet it is one of the major reasons that has enhanced India and Japan relations. India and Japan have been involved in economic trade, civil nuclear agreement, defence exercises and number of other agreements. Both India and Japan have a common view of establishment of a stable political environment in the region and a multi polar world. Japan considers India as a global partner and both have been strengthening their strategic partnership through regular bilateral summits and other agreements.

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