India Japan 2+2: Both countries to expand military, strategic ties in new domains

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, September 8

The second India-Japan ‘two plus two’ held in Tokyo on Thursday decided to work towards more complex and sophisticated joint military exercises even as they welcomed the move to add fighter exercises to improve interoperability between all three services of the armed forces.

India and Japan regularly participate in three joint exercises – two in the maritime domain and one on the land – besides some time rubbing shoulders when invited to large US-led exercises. Besides opening a new area of joint fighter exercises, Japan will participate for the first time in the Indian Navy’s largest multilateral exercise MILAN.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, his Japanese counterpart Hamada Yasukazu, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Japanese counterpart Hayashi Yoshimasa took part in the two plus two meeting, a format usually between close allies.

With Japan planning to reinforce its defence capabilities within the next five years with the help of a substantial increase in the budget, India expressed its support at the two plus two meeting to work towards enhanced security and defence cooperation.

The ministers also agreed to launch the Joint Service Staff Talks between the Japan Joint Staff and the Indian Integrated Defence Staff.

The armed forces of the two countries already participate in bilateral and multilateral exercises including "Dharma Guardian” (army to army), “JIMEX” (maritime exercise) and "Malabar” (jointly with the US and Australia).

Both sides have already operationalised a logistics sharing agreement (LSA), which in the India-Japan case, is called “Agreement on Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between the Self-Defence Forces of Japan and the Indian Armed Forces”.

It allows the two navies an easier access to the other side’s military facilities for fuel and logistics. India has already signed the LSA with the two other partner Quad countries, the US and Australia

In addition to these tangible developments on the defence side, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said after the meeting that in the face of multiple challenges, the case for India and Japan to collaborate more closely on foreign policy and security questions had become even stronger.

Consultations on various formats have dwelt on the imperative of economic security as also on the cyber security, 5G deployment and critical and strategic minerals. These were part of the agenda of the deliberations on Thursday, he noted.

Jaishankar also wanted foreign policy coordination to be further strengthened by enlarging the focus from the Indo-Pacific to other regional, global and multilateral platforms as well.

In this regard, joint consultations will be held along with Germany and Brazil (called the G-4) to make a renewed push for their permanent memberships at the UN Security Council. With India chairing G-20 by the year end and Japan to chair the G-7, this endeavour will be pushed at both organisations.

The two sides are already jointly active in the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, amongst others. They are also together in the Quad, on ASEAN platforms and bodies like ReCAAP and Supply Chain Resilience Initiative.

A joint statement later reaffirmed many convergence points that are also reiterated in Quad meetings. These include expressing their commitment to a rules-based global order and the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes without threat or use of force.

It also spoke of the need to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific, that is inclusive and resilient, based on the rule of law and free from coercion.

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