Japan has all the potential to emerge as India’s trusted anchor in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japan’s technology and funds complement India’s scale, not only addressing bilateral requirements but also having the potential to meet the demands of third countries and provide them with a supply chain that will not be weaponised during crises. This was the biggest takeaway from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent visit to India. Takaichi has pursued an active foreign policy to build a coalition of like-minded partners to hedge against China’s ambitions.

But unlike the period when Shinzo Abe was the Prime Minister, Takaichi is confronted with a US administration that is unreliable and rather keen to enter into a G2 phase with China. India’s significance, therefore, rises manifold in Tokyo’s Asia policy. While India has been keen to harness Japanese technology and investments, Tokyo requires India’s markets and India’s weight to balance Beijing.

Global Partnership

At the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit held recently in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Takaichi recognised that strengthening strategic and global cooperation between the two countries will be mutually beneficial and contribute to a resilient and prosperous Indo-Pacific and beyond in an increasingly volatile and uncertain geopolitical environment.

They concurred on advancing cooperation based on three priority areas: defence and security cooperation; economic partnership, including economic security, energy resilience, technology, and innovation; and people-to-people exchanges. They shared the view that India and Japan are natural and indispensable partners in their efforts to realise respective national interests.

As leading democracies and major economies of the world, India and Japan have a duty to shape and uphold an international order that is free, open, and based on the rule of law. To this end, the updated “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP)” of Japan closely aligns with the Indo-Pacific Oceans’ Initiative (IPOI) and the Mutual And Holistic Advancement for Security And Growth Across Regions (MAHASAGAR). 

Bilateral defence and security cooperation is on an upward trajectory, and there has been progress in the cooperation among the respective services. Deepening maritime security cooperation through enhanced exercises, maritime domain awareness using satellite capabilities, naval maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) cooperation, and defence equipment and technology cooperation under the framework of "Make in India" is the way forward.

UNICORN Project

India has welcomed Japan’s review of the three principles on the transfer of defence equipment and technology, and hoped that it will further deepen defence partnership between the two countries. An agreement has been reached in principle on the remaining technical details regarding the Unified Complex Radio Antenna (“UNICORN”) project. There are expectations for an early conclusion of the project.

Weaponisation of supply chains, coercion, and irrational tariff regimes have necessitated that India and Japan deepen their economic security partnership. The current international situation calls for both countries to further promote tangible cooperation in the areas of economic security.

Both Delhi and Tokyo share concerns over the use of economic coercion and non-market policies and practices, including arbitrary export restrictions that may lead to supply chain disruptions, particularly in critical minerals and critical industrial sectors, and price manipulation. The Summit underscored the importance of diversified, resilient, and reliable global supply chains, a fair competitive global environment, and the need to avoid reliance on any one country. 

Deeper institutionalisation of the economic security cooperation between India and Japan is underway. 

Towards this end, both sides will work together towards establishing a Track 1.5 Dialogue between the government, industry, and domain experts. Building on the India Semiconductor Mission, which has resulted in technology partnerships between Indian and Japanese companies, both sides will strengthen and diversify supply chains in the manufacturing of semiconductors, deepen cooperation in human resource development, manufacturing, R&D and design, and collaborate on providing technical assistance to India for upskilling master trainers in the semiconductor manufacturing sector. 

Technical Cooperation

With a view to maintaining a stable and predictable supply of critical minerals and to ensure stable production of industrial goods, both sides will promote technical cooperation and information exchanges between Geological Survey of India and JOGMEC in the field of mineral exploration and establish an ecosystem by facilitating the collection and recycling of e-waste to enhance the recovery of critical minerals across relevant supply chains.

Delhi and Tokyo have also decided to facilitate greater business engagement towards co-development for 5G advanced technologies, All-Photonics Network (APN), data centres, intelligent transportation systems, submarine cables and 5G Open RAN products and solutions as well as standards for advanced technologies beyond 5G and 6G. 

India-Japan Clean Energy Partnership

With regard to the India-Japan Clean Energy Partnership, both sides will continue to promote joint research, investment and implementation of projects in clean hydrogen and ammonia, and establish a landmark clean ammonia project of India-Japan cooperation in Odisha, with both governments’ support for ensuring investment predictability and viability of the project.

To reduce dependence on China, it was decided to explore alternative supply chains in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Key Starting Materials (KSMs). Similarly, collaboration in critical and emerging technologies is being promoted.

India’s own initiatives in the region, including Africa, South Asia and South-east Asia, and Japan’s Overseas Economic Security Arrangement under the updated Free and Open Indo-Pacific will continue to strengthen economic resilience in the Indo-Pacific region.

(The writer is a commentator on geopolitics and geoeconomics. Views expressed are personal.)