As India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh lands in Tokyo after a very successful visit of the Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the focus is shifting from cooperation with China to balancing Beijing in which Tokyo will play an important role. Thus the Annual Summit is receiving more than its share of attention. The Indian Prime Minister has repotedly extended his visit by a day on the request of the Japanese leadership and thus he will be in Japan from May 27 to 30th. There is also the unusually warm chemistry between Dr Manmohan Singh and Mr Shinzo Abe. Thus the Japanese Prime Minister and Mrs. Abe will host a private dinner for Prime Minister and Mrs. Kaur in the evening of May 28.
Defence cooperation will however remain a key strand of the summit. Japanese media interviewing Dr Man Mohan Singh clearly asked for steps to be taken to enhanced maritime cooperation, “in view of maritime threat from China?” While the Indian Prime Minister obviously did not respond China threat he did outline that the safety of the sea lanes of communications in particular was a vital issue for both India and Japan as “important maritime nations”. Dr Singh stated, “India supports freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce in international waters, and right of passage in accordance with accepted principles of international law”. On disputes he added that these should be resolved through dialogue, “ We believe that where disputes exist, they should be peacefully resolved by concerned parties through negotiations. This is essential for peace and stability in our region”.
In addition the Prime Minister articulated the ongoing defence coopoeation between the two counries and stated, “Maritime cooperation and coordination between India and Japan has grown. India and Japan launched bilateral naval exercise last year (June 2012). We started a new dialogue for discussing maritime affairs, including maritime security challenges. These activities are not aimed against any third country, but are meant to advance our shared interests. As you may be aware, in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and China coordinate escort schedules for merchant ships. This is an example of practical cooperation between Asian countries”.
On the larger level there are many strands to defence cooperation between India and Japan. This emanates from a dialogue between the Foreign and Defence Miinisters and the 2 + 2 dialogue process between the foreign and defence secretaries on both the sides. High level exchanges have been ongoing with India’s Chief of Army Staff General Bikram Singh in Japan in end of March. Chief of the Japanese Self Defence Forces was in India thereafter and also visited the Eastern Army Command amongst other HQs.
At the same time India is not in favour of a trilateral exercise. While the Indian media is rife with news of India chickening out of such an exercise the Foreign Secretary in a pre visit media briefing was more circumspect when asked if India pulled out such an exercise. He stated, “India did not pull out of a trilateral exercise. There was some planning between India and the USA for an exercise and at some stage it was felt that this could be converted into a trilateral exercise. That did not quite work out. But what we have done is invite Japan to hold exercises in the Indian Ocean and now to institutionalize them because what we were told is that they need to have a fixed programme that they can work on so that they know when we are planning our exercises together. So, we are going to institutionalize the regular exercises between the Indian and Japanese navies”. He also emphasized that all exercises with Japan are to develop bilateral defence cooperation and are not aimed at anyone else implying China though the underlying intent is quite obvious to all.
On the nuclear front both countries are keen to expand the dialogue to trade and power production but the talks are at a preliminary stage and may take some time to fructify. On the other hand India seems to be interested in reactors vessels produced by Japan Steel Works which is a very specialized technology which Japan has as per Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.
Making a strong pitch for maritime security cooperation between India and Japan the Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh has been forthright in indicating the requirement as a joint operation by countries in the region and not as a zero sum game. While the Indian Prime Minister’s annual summit in Tokyo is likely to focus on the economic issues seeking greater investment from Japan which under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seen to be particularly India friendly. The security dimensions of the Indo Japan relationship are likely to be underlined particularly after Indian apprehensions on China’s aggressive intent on the Line of Actual Control. News of another transgression and road construction activity as well as a patrol face off on 17 May in Siri Jap underlines the need for creating elbow room for which Sinzo Abe led Japan may be an ideal foil vis a vis China.
This Article first appeared on Security Risks and is reposted here under a Creative Commons license.