India, Japan finalise pact for cooperation in 5G tech, AI and critical information infra

India is set to ink an agreement with Japan for cooperation in the 5G technology and the security of the critical information infrastructure – amid growing concern over snooping by the telecom companies of China.

The text of the agreement was finalized as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met in Tokyo on Wednesday. It was also discussed and approved for signing during a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi later on the day.

The agreement is likely to be signed when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new counterpart in Japan, Yoshihide Suga, will hold a virtual summit.

The pact will set the framework for India-Japan cooperation in capacity building, research and development, security and resilience in the areas of Critical Information Infrastructure, 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to a statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.

The move by New Delhi and Tokyo to step up bilateral cooperation in secure digital connectivity comes amid concerns over the snooping by the Huawei Technologies Company and the ZTE Corporation of China.

Tokyo had in December 2018 banned use of the equipment made by the Huawei Technologies Company in rolling out the 5G technology in Japan, just months after President Donald Trump’s administration did so in the US.

Japan’s telecom giants Rakuten Mobile Inc, NTT Docomo Inc., KDDI Corp. and SoftBank Corp. already launched 5G mobile internet service.

Notwithstanding pressure from the US to exclude the companies based in China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had on December 30 last year announced its decision to let all network equipment makers, including the Huawei Technologies Co Ltd., to participate in the 5G trial in India.

In the wake of the stand-off between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh, New Delhi, however, earlier this year banned the use of several apps linked to the companies based in the communist country. But the Modi Government last month informed Parliament that it had no plan to keep the Huawei Technologies Company and the ZTE Corporation of China out of the 5G rollout in India.

Jaishankar and Motegi on Wednesday agreed that “a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region must be premised on diversified and resilient supply chains”. India, Japan and Australia recently launched a supply chain resilience initiative.