India’s all-weather friend Japan has been the most supportive in the present times when Chinese aggressiveness is at an all high against India, especially in the Ladakh region. The Japanese Ambassador to India, Satoshi Suzuki quoted that “the country opposes any unilateral attempts to change the status quo”. Previously too, during the Doklam crisis, Japan was one of the few countries to have supported India, publicly. In a rare briefing on 25 June 2020, the Japanese Defence Minister Taro Kono opined that “the Chinese military capabilities and intentions needed to be watched closely across Asia”. On 27 June 2020, “JS KASHIMA (TV 3508) and JS SHIMAYUKI (TV 3513), the JMSDF Training Squadron, conducted an exercise with INS RANA and INS KULISH, Indian Navy at the Indian Ocean and this exercise was aimed to promote mutual understanding, tactical training and communication training”. The Japanese Navy and the Indian Navy have been instrumental in paving the way for stronger relations between the two countries and this exercise is the 15th exercise in the last three years. All these incidents have only strengthened the core of the relations between India and Japan. Therefore, keeping the present naval exercise in the Indian Ocean in mind, the article traces the highlights of maritime relations between the two countries and its importance in the present context.
India-Japan Maritime Cooperation
On December 10, 2001 when Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Prime Minister Koizumi recognised the importance of cooperation in the sector pertaining to the safety and security of international maritime traffic and worked towards the active cooperation between the coast guards and related agencies in areas of anti-piracy, search and rescue operations. They also expressed their mutual interest in the visits of the coast guard patrol vessels, and combined exercises and pledged to cooperate to undertake at an early date, constructive discussions on a regional cooperation agreement on anti-piracy in a Government Expert Working Group.[i] Therefore, the initial maritime relationship started within the realm of anti-piracy was a major changing point in the relations between India and Japan.
The other highlight was when Japan dispatched five Maritime Self-Defence Force ships to the Indian Ocean with India’s support to fight against terrorism, and this paved a way for important defence exchanges between both the countries. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force and the Indian Navy had conducted goodwill visits aiming for maritime safety of authorities, which led to a regular phenomenon of visits and combined exercises leading to stronger ties of cooperative maintenance of security and maritime traffic of the sea-lanes stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Strait of Malacca. Since both the countries have large Exclusive Economic Zones and maritime interests, they worked towards the enhancement of capacity building, technical assistance, and information sharing. They also undertook anti-piracy measures and welcomed the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP). Together, India and Japan agreed to closely cooperate to ensure the safety and security of international maritime traffic keeping the larger goal of economic well-being within the region. The regular exchange between the Coast Guards was endorsed along with meetings of Coast Guards, mutual visits of Coast Guard ships and held combined exercises.[ii]
A major development was the speech of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe titled the “Confluence of the Two Seas” at the Parliament of the Republic of India on August 22, 2007, where Prime Minister Abe discussed about the Pacific and Indian Oceans leading to dynamic coupling as seas of freedom and prosperity aiming for a broader Asia and together both the countries have the ability as well as responsibility to nurture and enrich these seas leading to transparency. Also, the Japanese diplomacy had also promoted the ‘Arc of Freedom and Prosperity’, which would also be formed along the outer rim of the Eurasian continent. Hence, the Strategic Global Partnership between India and Japan would be beneficial. Prime Minister Abe mentioned that with India and Japan coming into the broader Asia would help in the network in the Pacific Ocean which in turn would help incorporate the U.S. and Australia, aiming for an open and transparent network allowing the people, goods, capital, and knowledge to flow freely. Also, since both India and Japan are maritime states, the sea lanes of communication were extremely important for both but more for Japan as it is a sea-based country with no resources, it completely banks on the sea lanes and shipping routes for all its resources. Hence, the sea lanes are crucial for the basic survival of Japan.
India and Japan share common interests in the fields of maintaining the safety and security of sea lanes in the region of Asia Pacific and the Indian Ocean and worked towards fighting against transnational crimes, terrorism, piracy, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. In September 2007, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force was a part of the multilateral maritime exercise Malabar in the Bay of Bengal. India and Japan aimed for the promotion of cooperation between the Coast Guards where they affirmed their enhanced intention in the sectors of maritime safety, security, and protection of marine environment through the combined exercises, regular meetings of heads of the two Coast Guards and finally, led to the signing of the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Japan Coast Guard and the Indian Coast Guard. This was a major step in maritime cooperation.
Another major development was the meeting which took place between the Vice-Minister of Defence of Japan and the Defence Secretary of India, including Defence Policy Dialogue, Military-to-Military Talks at Director General/Joint Secretary level, Exchange of service chiefs, Navy-to-Navy Staff Talks and Service-to-service exchanges, including bilateral and multilateral exercises. All this paved a much stronger path for maritime and defence cooperation between India and Japan. This stage of cooperation further advanced as they worked towards strategic cooperation mechanisms, like the annual strategic dialogue at Foreign Minister-level, regular consultations between National Security Advisor of India and Japanese Counterpart, annual Subcabinet/Senior Officials 2+2 dialogue (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence of Japan / Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence of India, Foreign Secretary/Vice Minister level Dialogue (Basically twice a year) and Foreign Office Consultation (Basically once a year). There was the Annual Comprehensive Security Dialogue at the level of Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence of India/Director General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defence of Japan. These meetings led the maritime relations to many more synergies, which paved a way for higher level of commitment in the maritime security and cooperation field.[iii]
In February 2008, the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) initiated by the Indian Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, was a voluntary initiative to help preserve peaceful relations between nations, their navies and their navy chiefs to increase maritime cooperation, thus aiming for an effective maritime security architecture in the Indian Ocean Region for collective prosperity. This initiative taken by the Indian Navy was greatly applauded by Japan, as it focused on the overall goal of maritime cooperation. Maritime Security Dialogue was the next step in the maritime relations and they worked on the annual track 1.5 strategic dialogue and these were followed by exercises where annual bilateral naval exercises alternately off India and Japan aimed to enhance the cooperation and work on core ability for maritime operations and disaster relief and also aimed for multiple naval exercises along with the passing exercise (PASSEX) during the ship visits. The two Coast Guards also continued to promote cooperation in the realm of maritime safety, maritime security and work to protect the environment through joint exercises and meetings and so, a Memorandum on Cooperation between the Japan Coast Guard and the Indian Coast Guard. Soon In 2012, the two countries welcomed the bilateral exercise between the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and the Indian Navy. On 29 January 2013, the 1st meeting of the Japan-India Maritime Affairs Dialogue was held in Delhi and this meeting was attended by Mr. Kazuyuki Yamazaki, Deputy Director-General (Ambassador), Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the representatives from the Secretariat of the Headquarters for Ocean Policy of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the Coast Guard, and the Ministry of Defence and from the Indian side, Mr. D.B. Venkatesh Varma, Joint Secretary, Disarmament and International Security Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, and the representatives from the Ministry of Defence, the Coast Guard, the Ministry of Shipping and the Ministry of Earth Science and all discussed the bilateral maritime cooperation as well as the international and regional maritime issues.
On 4 May 2013 in Delhi, Taro Aso, the Deputy Prime Minister spoke about “Japan’s Revival and the Japan-India Global Strategic Partnership” where he called the ‘Indian Navy as an ascending Navy’ and focused on the ‘Indian Ocean Region and beyond in the Pacific’ and also mentioned about being more responsible for the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and since 2001, some Japanese naval ships were always in operation in the IOR. Minister Aso also highlighted that the IOR has great value, as 80 percent of the world’s energy passes through it and that India and Japan are maritime democracies who follow the international order functions based on the established rules and laws. He also mentioned that “What happens in the Western Pacific should affect your interests” and “What happens in the IOR should affect the interests of my country”. This was a clear indication that Japan was not only interested in the Indian Ocean Region, but also wanted India to be interested in the Western Pacific. So, they offered port facilities investment, India and Japan marine industries cooperation involving both the government and private sectors and stronger naval exchanges. Minister Aso highlighted that though both the countries worked on the sectors to fight against piracy, natural disasters and joint maritime capacities but there was more needed like enlarging the mental map to fully embrace India’s role and presence as a global player, strategic importance of Andaman and Nicobar and the future importance of IOR as an strategic asset, and also mentioned about the overseas base in Djibouti where maritime security, cooperation, inter-operability would help strengthen the links between the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force and the Indian Navy and pave a way from Yokosuka to Port Blair to Djibouti. In December 2013, the second bilateral exercise between the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and the Indian Navy was held off the coast of Chennai. The first meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on the US-2 amphibian aircraft was also held.
On 1 September 2014, Tokyo Declaration for Strategic and Diplomatic relations took place and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed many things. A dialogue took place between the Director General of Indian Coast Guard and the Commandant of Japan Coast Guard, and the joint exercise between Indian and Japanese Coast Guards conducted off the coast of Kochi in January 2014. They also discussed about the promotion of the bilateral and multilateral cooperation on issues of maritime and decided to hold the next bilateral dialogue in Tokyo and joint exercise off the coast of Haneda between Indian and Japanese Coast Guards in October 2014. This was followed by the India-Japan Summit Meeting was held in November 2014 and here Prime Minister Abe stated that “he wanted to add to Japan-India relations- a standpoint of contributing to the stability and development of ‘Indo- Pacific’, and also mentioned attached importance to Japan-U.S.-India and Japan-Australia-India cooperation”.
On 18 January 2015, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida gave a policy speech titled “Special Partnership for the Era of the Indo-Pacific”, and emphasised that Indo-Pacific was the epicentre of global prosperity, and that India and Japan share a special partnership in the Indo-Pacific region. Foreign Minister Kishida spoke about three bridges, and the third bridge was about the ‘Open and Stable Seas’ and spoke about the region bound by seas extending from the Indian Ocean through the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and emphasised upon Prime Minister Abe’s “three principles of the rule of law at sea”, which consist of making and clarifying claims on international law, not using force or coercion in trying to drive claims and seeking to settle disputes by peaceful ways”. India and Japan were bonding on a special relationship for the same, and were accompanied with the U.S. in Malabar maritime exercises, working on multilateral frameworks like ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit (EAS). In September 2015, the 3rd Japan-India Shipping Policy Forum Meeting was held in Tokyo, and both sides discussed cooperation in the realm of maritime sector which in improvement of ship recycling facilities, development of ports and inland water transport in India, ship building/ship repair and cooperation on International Maritime Organisation (IMO) matters.
On 21 November 2015, Japan-India Summit Meeting where Prime Minister Abe spoke about “Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership” which aimed for greater stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Abe also conveyed his concern about the situation in the South China Sea. The second Japan-India Maritime Affairs Dialogue was held in November 2015. This eventually led to the “Japan and India Vision 2025 Special Strategic and Global Partnership: Working Together for Peace and Prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region and the World, scheduled on December 12, 2015 where Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Abe spoke about their unwavering commitment to realise a peaceful, open, equitable, stable and rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond”. During this meeting, the two prime Ministers progressed for stronger capabilities to deal with maritime challenges in the Indo-Pacific, enhanced disaster response and mitigation capacity, and developed dialogue and exchanges in the field of security and defence, aiming at the full utilisation of ‘2+2 Dialogue’, Defence Policy Dialogue, Military-to-Military Talks and Coast Guard to Coast Guard cooperation. They also promoted trilateral relations between Japan-India-U.S. through dialogues and cooperation in areas like humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, regional connectivity and maritime security. They also inaugurated the Japan-India-Australia Trilateral dialogue, which focused on the regional efforts to evolve an open, inclusive, stable economic, political and security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region. They also discussed about the critical importance of the South China Sea’s sea-lanes of communication for its regional energy security, trade and commerce and together avoided the unilateral actions that would lead to tensions within the region and viewed the effective implementation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and early conclusion of the negotiations to establish a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea by consensus will contribute to peace and stability of the region.
In January 2016, a bilateral dialogue was held in New Delhi and a joint exercise off the coast of Chennai was held between the Japan Coast Guard and the Indian Coast Guard. In February 2016, the International Fleet Review-2016 was hosted by Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam, and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) led by JMSDF Chief of Staff participated in it. Japan was represented by the JMSDF Ship ‘JS Matsuyuki’ in the event. In March 2016, Sixth round of Indian Navy- JMSDF Staff Talks was held in Tokyo. In May 2016, the Japan Coast Guard participated in the 7th Search and Rescue Workshop and Exercise-2016 (SAREX-16), hosted by Indian Coast Guard in Mumbai and later in June 2016, the 2016 MALABAR exercise took place in Japan where the Indian Navy, U.S. Navy & JMSDF participated and was held in Sasebo, Japan on June 2016. This exercise was different as it was a major highlight and shift from the coast off Chennai, and it meant that India and the U.S. were actively participating in the East China Sea and South China Sea. In August 2016, a Passage Exercise off the coast of Mumbai between Indian Navy ships-‘INS Mysore and INS Brahmaputra’ and JMSDF ships-‘Yuudachi and Yuugiri’ took place. In October 2016, the HACGAM was held in Jakarta, which led to a joint exercise among the Japan Coast Guard, the Indian Coast Guard and Indonesian maritime authorities conducted off the coast of Jakarta observed by HAGAM members. On 11 November 2016, Prime Minister Abe appreciated Prime Minister Modi’s active engagement in the region under the “Act East Policy,” and briefed Prime Minister Modi on the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.” They aimed to work jointly in strengthening the rules-based international order in the region of Indo-Pacific and beyond, also appreciating the trilateral dialogues including the U.S. and Australia. They also enhanced the maritime cooperation and regional connectivity with the EAS framework, and further worked at strengthening the ASEAN-led fora such as ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus, Expanded ASEAN Maritime Forum and coordination of their actions to tackle global and regional challenges especially focusing on maritime security issues.
In January 2017, the 16th High level Meeting and joint exercise in Yokohama took place between the two coast guards. In July 2017, the Malabar Exercise took place in the Bay of Bengal and later on 14 September 2017, Prime Minister Abe visited India and together with Prime Minister Modi and gave a “Joint Statement: Toward a Free, Open and Prosperous Indo-Pacific” and focused on their values-based partnership in achieving a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region with respect to international law and sovereignty and enjoyed the freedom of navigation and overflight. They pledged for efforts to align with Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy with India’s Act East Policy which would focus on enhancing maritime security cooperation, improving connectivity in the wider Indo-Pacific region, strengthening cooperation with ASEAN, enhancing defence and security cooperation for Malabar and other joint exercises, defence equipment and technology cooperation like surveillance, unmanned system technologies and defence industry cooperation. Also, there were many ongoing close cooperation between the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) and the Indian Navy in sectors like anti-submarine aspects and worked to expand the maritime domain awareness (MDA) in the region of Indo-Pacific. On 19 September 2017, the Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting took place between Japan-U.S.-India Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and they discussed about maritime security and regional connectivity to be realised in the Indo-Pacific region. PASSEX were held in September 2017 off Western India, October 2017 off Western Kyushu and Japan in November 2017 at the Sea of Japan. The first Air anti-submarine (ASW) exercise between Indian Navy P-8I and JMSDF P-3C was held off Goa in October 2017, during the return transit of the JMSDF aircraft deployed to the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy operations. This was followed by the Australia-India-Japan-U.S. Consultations on the Indo-Pacific on November 12, 2017 held in Manila, and discussed measures to ensure a free and open international order based on the rule of law in the Indo-Pacific and this was yet again a major highlight in the realm of the Indo-Pacific region especially with all the major powers.
The 17th Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Japan Coast Guard (JCG) high level meeting was held in New Delhi in January, in January 2018 off Mumbai, May 2018 off Visakhapatnam, September 2018 off the Gulf of Aden an exercise was conducted. On 29 March 2018, the Japan-India Foreign Ministers’ Strategic Dialogue took place where Foreign Minister Taro Kono further stated that “India is the most important partner to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, Open a New Window and that the two countries lead the way to peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and the world through further synergy between the Free and Open Indo-Pacific strategy and the Act East policy”. India and Japan representatives discussed the importance of strategic cooperation in the realm of maritime security, and dealt with port calls in India by vessels of the Japan Coast Guard and the Maritime Self-Defence Forces, strengthened the Japan-India Track 1.5 Dialogue, a framework for dialogue between governments and private sectors of the two countries, and decided to hold the dialogue as the “Indo-Pacific Dialogue”.
On 1st June 2018, Prime Minister Modi at the Shangri La Dialogue for the first time spoke about ‘India’s vision for the Indo-Pacific region (IPR)’. India’s IPR stood for a ‘free, open, inclusive region including common pursuit for progress and prosperity’. The Malabar 2018 exercise was conducted off Guam in June 2018 and witnessed significant participation from all the participants. On 28-29 October 2018, the 13th Japan-India Annual Summit took place and both the countries aimed for a “new era in Japan-India relations” so as to further cooperate towards peace, stability and prosperity of Indo-Pacific, aiming for better maritime security cooperation and expanding the maritime domain awareness and mutual logistics support. They also implemented Arrangement for Deeper Cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), commencement of negotiations for the Acquisition, Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) and to establish the means and framework for information sharing and conduction of joint exercises and other maritime engagements for the enhancement of maritime security, MDA and exchange of shipping information. The Joint Exercises between India and Japan have a high frequency of Indian Navy-to JMSDF exercises with the Trilateral Malabar Exercise being the most significant engagement. The bilateral maritime exercise JIMEX-18 was held off Visakhapatnam in October 2018, after an interlude of 5 year with the participation of Japan’s helicopter destroyer Kaga. PASSEX regularly conducted during the visit of Indian Naval ships and JMSDF ships to each other’s ports in India and Japan and this was followed by an Air ASW exercise between JMSDF P-1 and Indian Navy P-8I in May 2018 off Goa. India and Japan conducted the first Counter Terrorism exercise between the JGSDF and the Indian Army in November 2018.
On 13 November 2018, the 10th edition of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) was held in Kochi aimed at maritime issues pertaining to cooperative capacity-building to deal with common security concerns in the region and the theme was ‘IONS as a Catalyst for SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region) which is in consonance with India’s Act East Policy. This symposium not only highlighted India’s maritime policy but also strengthened itself among the other Indian Ocean states. On 15 November 2018, the Japan-Australia-India-U.S. Consultations met in Singapore for Consultations on the Indo-Pacific region, and focused on a shared commitment to maintain and strengthen a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific and all four countries shared their support for a free, open, and inclusive region that fosters universal respect for international law, freedom of navigation and overflight, and sustainable development. The four countries also reaffirmed their strong support to the centrality of ASEAN and the ASEAN-led regional association and other regional institutions like the Indian Ocean Rim Association and the Pacific Islands Forum and also expressed the regional developments about Sri Lanka and Maldives as well.
On 30 November 2019, the First Japan-India 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting was held where among the other defence related issues, the Malabar 2019 was held from September-October 2019 off the coast of Japan, mine-countermeasures exercise (MINEX) held in Japan in July 2019 and “Cope India 2018” in which Japan participated as an observer in December 2018. India and Japan also discussed about the developments in the South China Sea keeping in view also the Chairman's Statement of the 14th EAS. Therefore, the relations between India and Japan have grown in leaps and bounds from anti-piracy to holding fort for one another in the Indo-Pacific region, and also aligning and cooperating with others and regional institutions in order to safe guard the free and open Indo-Pacific.
India-Japan Maritime Relations in the present context
On 27 June 2020, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force conducted goodwill training with Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean, this being the 15th training exercise between JMSDF and Indian Navy for the past 3 years. Japan was represented by Japan Maritime Self Defence Force training squadron ships ‘JS Kashima and JS Shimayuki’ and India was represented by our Indian Navy, ‘INS Rana and INS Kulish’. This exercise is important especially in the Indian Ocean, as China is trying to increase its military presence in this region, which is also a cause of worry for India. Chinese maritime aggression is a cause of major concern to both India and China. China’s aggressiveness in the East China Sea and South China Sea is a major worry for Japan. Recently, Chinese coast guard vessels were in the Japanese waters of the East China Sea for 39 hours, and this movement by the Chinese came in after Japan said it would like to just call the Senkaku Islands as Senkaku Islands. Earlier, China has built artificial islands setting them up as bases in the South China Sea, which is not acceptable. Japan has also supported India in the recent India-China military standoff in Ladakh, where China has tried to overtake some parts of the Indian territory, and also during the Doklam standoff, Japan was one of the few countries to have supported India. Hence, Japan has always been India’s all-weather friend. Though, many believe that this naval exercise in the Indian Ocean was routine and has only been hyped due to the recent military standoff.
Dr. Satoru Nagao, a Japanese expert in the Hudson Institute in a telephonic interview, discussed the recent naval exercise between India and Japan and highlighted what is Japan’s interest and why did Japan go for a naval exercise now? According to Dr. Nagao, the recent Japan-India security cooperation had started in 2000s when the problem between Japan-China had been surfaced. Thus, Japan’s motivation toward the security cooperation with India was because of Japan's perception toward China. If Japan cooperates with China, what kind of interest does Japan have? Firstly, we should focus on the linkage of Indo-China border area and the East China Sea. For example, if India cooperates with Japan-US, India will not need to deal with all the Chinese fighter jets at once because China is likely to keep some of their fighter jets in their east side against Japan-US, and vice-versa. Therefore, under the Japan-US-India-Australia strategic cooperation, by using the know-how of high-end military infrastructural development, Japan-US-Australia is willing to support India’s efforts to modernize India’s defence in the Indo-China border area. Since 2014, Japan has planned to invest in India’s strategic road project in the Northeast region of India. By using this road, the Indian army can deploy more forces and supply to the border area. Japan can export radar system to strengthen air defence capability of India. Secondly, in the Indian Ocean, if India has the capability, Japan and the US will be able to release themselves from the heavy burden of safeguarding the Indian Ocean, and can deploy more military forces in the East China Sea and the South China Sea to maintain the military balance. Thirdly, Japan, the US, India and Australia can also collaborate to support Southeast Asian countries around the South China Sea. The Southeast Asian countries around the South China Sea need to strengthen their military power with a trustworthy partner to provide coastal countries military support. To divide China, a huge military budget in multiple directions including East China Sea, South China Sea, Indo-China border area and the Indian Ocean, it is more easy to maintain military balance with China now, India is facing China’s threat, Japan should show their will to cooperate with India. Thereby, the Japan-India join naval exercise is a good gesture. Also, when asked about the future possibilities in the India-Japan naval exercises with the US, Dr. Nagao opined that in 2018, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said “Japan and India have the most potential of any bilateral relationship”. Indeed, for a long time, both Japan and India have not realized how important the relation is and that is the reason that there are plenty of potential in this relations. Now, India is rising. Japan is realizing how important security is. It is true that Japan and India have great potential to expand security cooperation. Recently, China's Global Times wrote, “India's wishful thinking an illusion as PLA is prepared on all fronts” written however, on their part, “it is wishful thinking that the US is coming to their aid and will help pin down the Chinese forces in the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits to provide chances for India in the border dispute, they said”. This is China’s concern. The time will come for Japan and India to cooperate more deeply and show force with the US against China.[iv]
Conclusion
India and Japan’s maritime relations will only keep growing as the world today is focused on the Indo-Pacific region, so India and Japan also have vital interests in the Indian Ocean. China is an obvious cause for both India and Japan, and maritime aggressiveness by China is a greater cause for other countries as well like the U.S., Australia and some ASEAN nations. It is important to understand that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are of strategic interest and is a major benefit for India. Thus, Japan has been very keenly helping India build the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as it also benefits from them, and if possible work towards building an interconnectedness of islands from Yokosuka to Port Blair to Djibouti, which would form maritime frontier between Japan-India and Africa which would help deal with the Chinese maritime aggressiveness and also have access to all the vital resources.
[i] Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). 2001. “Japan-India Joint Declaration” dated December 10, 2001. https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/india/joint0112.html(Accessed on 23 June 2020)
[ii] Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). 2007. “Joint Press Release Visit of External Affairs Minister of India to Japan” dated March 2007. https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/asia-paci/india/joint0703.html
(Accessed on 27 June 2020)
[iii] Please refer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site for the multiple meetings for further information.
[iv] These questions were asked in a telephonic interview to Dr. Satoru Nagao, a Japanese expert in the Hudson Institute. Please refer to Dr. Nagao’s page for further details. https://www.hudson.org/experts/1220-satoru-nagao (Accessed on 5 June, 2020)
Picture Courtesy-Twitter account of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
@jmsdf_pao_eng
(The views expressed are personal)
