From joint exercises to information/intelligence sharing, the India Japan military relationship has seen steady accretion over the years.
But there’s a significant gap when it comes to buying military hardware from Japan or even technology transfer agreements in the military domain. Why is this so?
A senior Japanese diplomat told StratNewsGlobal on the sidelines of an event in Delhi, that Tokyo has some concerns about India’s export control rules, but did not cite anything specific.
He claimed India’s need for speed in certain negotiations was not matched by the Japanese. He also acknowledged domestic constraints, perhaps flowing from Tokyo’s long-standing ties with the West, that may have left a certain view about India. Then there’s Russia.
“Japan is concerned about your (India) partnership with Russia,” he said. India’s refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the continued purchase of sanctioned Russian crude oil, were obviously at the top of his mind.
But more important for him were Chinese and Russian naval vessels engaging in joint drills in the Sea of Japan.
It comes at a time when China has been expanding its naval presence beyond the first island chain, that includes Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines, to the second island chain that includes the US Pacific territory of Guam.
Some of these issues could be discussed when Prime Minister Modi meets his Japanese counterpart Shigeru Ishiba at the G7 in Canada. The Quad summit which India is due to host later this year, could provide another forum.
“We are natural partners, so from the economic and security perspective a strong India is very welcome,” he said. “Ninety per cent of Japan is happy that India has passed Japan (to be the world’s fourth largest economy) since it will provide more opportunities for Japanese industry. A strong and healthy India will support Japan’s economic security.”
He hinted that Japan was keen on the upgrading the current Special Strategic and Global Partnership, signed in 2014.
“When we say strategic we mean China,” he said, “Japan is not shy in acknowledging China as an unprecedented threat to its security. We need to prepare for a contingency, we need resources, political associations and may need to respond preemptively to China, not strike back but strike in a preemptive kind of way.”
The security situation is deteriorating, the diplomat admitted, which explains the government’s decision to hike defence spending to 2% of the GDP in 2027. A joint operations command has been set up to enable smooth transition of military forces from peacetime to a wartime posture.
