JOIN USWithin days of unveiling a 10-year national security strategy to counter China, a top Japanese official is heading for New Delhi to discuss regional security issues, including the rise of Chinese military powers in the Asia-Pacific region with Defence Minister A K Antony.
On January 5, Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera will arrive in India with a high-power delegation to have bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart on the next day, sources said.
The meeting will also lay the grounds for the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later in January, during which both sides aim to ink a number of agreements, including one on security issues. Abe is to be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in the capital.
While the agenda of discussion between Antony and Onodera remains unknown, China’s recent aggressive military posturing in the East China Sea and its ramifications are likely to be taken up by the two defence ministers.
China had unilaterally announced an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea that overlaps with the zones of Japan and South Korea. This created a tense situation in the Asia-Pacific region where power balance equations are being redrawn. “We are closely examining the ADIZ issues,” Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi said here earlier this month.
India and Japan are to begin their first naval exercise in Indian waters from Thursday and will be conducted off the Chennai coast. The four-day exercise is to see the participation of mainstream Indian and Japanese warships in mock war drills.