JOIN USYoshihide Suga calls PM Modi ahead of India, Japan navy drill
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new counterpart in Japan, Yoshihide Suga, on Friday discussed the future course of the ‘Quad’ – a coalition re-launched by India, Japan, Australia and the United States to counter the expansionist aspirations of China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Modi and Suga spoke to each other over the phone even as the warships of the Indian Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) were preparing to start a joint exercise in the North Arabian Sea from Saturday. This is going to be the first joint exercise by the warships of India and Japan after the two nations inked an agreement on September 10 to open military bases in the respective countries for each other’s Army, Navy and Air forces – signaling strategic convergence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Suga, who recently succeeded Shinzo Abe as the new Prime Minister of Japan, conveyed to Modi his intention to promote bilateral cooperation in the fields of security, economy and economic cooperation and to work with New Delhi towards achieving a “free and open Indo-Pacific.” He also told Modi that he would like to promote cooperation in such multilateral mechanism as Japan-Australia-India-US (Quad) meetings and the United Nations.
New Delhi and Tokyo chose the location of the joint navy drill to send out a message to Beijing, which has a base in Djibouti and has the warships of its People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) patrol the sea lanes in the region in the name of anti-piracy operation.
The ‘Quad’ also asserted itself on Friday with a virtual meeting of the senior officials of India, Japan, Australia and the United States to discuss “ongoing and proposed practical cooperation in the areas of connectivity and infrastructure development, and security matters, including counter-terrorism, cyber and maritime security, with the objective of promoting peace, security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.” The officials discussed the Covid-19 outbreak and underscored the importance of enhancing the resilience of supply chains and sharing best practices on how to combat the pandemic.