INDO-JAPAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP DURABLE AND RELIABLE

The Indo-Japanese friendship is as durable as any Japanese product and as valuable as emotional relations, in India. The friendship between India and Japan has history of 1,400 years based on spiritual affiliation and strong cultural similarities. Contacts between India and Japan began some 1,400 years ago when Buddhism spread upto Japan and during these 14 centuries, the two countries have never been adversaries/rivals. Over the years, the two countries have built upon these values and created a partnership based on principles and pragmatism.

GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP IN 21st CENTURY
India’s relationship with Japan is on a very strong and stable pedestal. Both countries share democratic and pro-peace, propeople outlook and easily qualify to be natural allies. The India-Japan relationship, founded on the principle of mutual trust and benefit has gained strategic prominence in 21st Century. In the geostrategic context, Indian and Japanese security perceptions converge in the region with common apprehensions about China. Both countries understand the WIN –WIN equation of this global partnership.

QUAD
The Indo-Pacific region emerges as a centre of global strategic importance. Initially, it started as a humanitarian partnership in 2004, QUAD initiative has developed as an important forum to address the security issues in the Indo-Pacific region, today. The geographic positioning provides great strategic advantage to both countries (India & Japan) against China and they are set to play a pivotal role in IndoPacific region, under the umbrella of QUAD.

ECONOMIC COOPERATION
India and Japan had very good bilateral trade relations in the past. Japan’s interest in India is increasing due to a variety of reasons including India’s large and growing market and its vast resources, especially the human resources. Suzuki Motor Corporation’s path breaking investment in India in 1980s revolutionized the automobile sector, bringing in advanced technology and management skills to India. The trade imbalance between India and Japan is narrowing gradually with Indian exports to Japan rising each year. Economic relations between India and Japan have vast potential for growth, given the complementarities.

INFRASTRUCTURE
Present Indian Government’s quest to create world class infrastructure in the country already has significant Japanese footprints. India has been the largest recipient of Japanese loans in the last decade. Delhi Metro is one of the most successful examples of Japanese cooperation. Presently, six Metro Rail projects are being implemented with technical and financial support from Japan. Besides, Japan wishes to build HighSpeed Railway in India as the flagship project of Japan-India friendship. Post COVID, large number of Japanese industry are gradually shifting their manufacturing bases from China. India with new infrastructure, is well poised to provide a robust alternative.

DEFENCE ALLIANCE
Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific is in a state of flux and new contours are emerging post COVID and in the backdrop of Ukraine war. Rise of China has contributed to the changing equation between India and Japan. India and Japan in their respective regions are naval powers of repute. India with its dominant strategic location and a strong navy aspires to be a net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region.

In 2022, 2+2 Dialogue between the Foreign and Defence Ministers of both the countries was held at New Delhi. India has this arrangement of 2+2 Dialogue only with USA and Now, with Japan. In the last decade, all the three components of armed forces have started to engage in bilateral joint exercises. The frequency of such engagements is increasing every year. Joint training exercises by QUAD members are giving sleepless nights to powers in Beijing.

RECENT SYNERGY IN RELATIONS
India and Japan relationship has significantly advanced over the past decade. Convergences in geo-economic and geo-strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific have brought the two countries closer than ever before. Japanese Prime Minister Mr Fumio Kishida recently visited India in March 2023 and announced a new plan for a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ pledging $75 billion to assist the economies in the region, by 2030. Both Modi and Kishida welcomed the formulation of a roadmap to further promote industrial cooperation between the two countries.

CONCLUSION
The world’s economic and political “Centre of Gravity” shifts to the Indo-Pacific and Asia from USA and Europe in the 21st Century. The geopolitics of the this region is undergoing rapid transformation due to the complex interplays amongst regional and global powers. In these strategic calculations of the Indo-Pacific geopolitics, India can be ‘an indispensable partner’. China’s aggressive designs in regional issues may propel both India and Japan to find more synergy to jointly cope up with this new challenge.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

MAJ GEN CP SINGH (RETD) The writer is a scholar soldier accredited with MA, MSc, LLB, MBA, M Phil (Def Mgt) and M Phil (International Strategic Affairs)