India sees Japan as a 'natural partner' in its journey, development and quest for stability in Indo-Pacific: Jaishankar

In his opening remarks at the 16th India-Japan Foreign Ministers Strategic Dialogue in Tokyo, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also said that 2023 was a landmark year in the bilateral relationship.

New Delhi: With the soldiers of India and Japan participating in a joint military drill in Rajasthan, New Delhi and Tokyo on Thursday agreed to deepen defence and security cooperation and to step up cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, amid growing belligerence of China.

“India and Japan, as two major Indo-Pacific nations sharing values, histories, and interests, have abiding stakes in peace, security, and prosperity of our region, and are ready to play a responsible role commensurate to the needs of our times,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said after a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa in Tokyo. His comment came amid escalating tension in the South China Sea over the collision of the vessels of the Coast Guards of China and the Philippines.

Jaishankar noted that India and Japan had made good progress in defence and security relations. “The three branches of our military and Coast Guard are productively engaged with their Japanese counterparts, with greater ease through the newly operationalized reciprocal partnership arrangement. There have been exchanges about cooperation possibilities in the areas of jointness, and new domains like cyber and space,” said the external affairs minister. He and Kamikawa also took stock of the progress within the bilateral defence equipment and technology cooperation framework.

Kamikawa sent out a subtle message to China and reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to step up cooperation with India to “realize a free and open Indo-Pacific”.

She said that Japan and India shared “fundamental values including democracy and the rule of law” and they would "proactively promote" defence equipment transfers and technical cooperation in outer space and cybersecurity.

The two foreign ministers noted a lot of potential for a quantum jump of investment from Japan into India, especially in SMEs with both nations entering a decade of take-off growth. “India remains committed to the continuous improvement in our infrastructure environment. I underlined the importance we attach to the timely execution of flagship projects like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Railway, which is India’s first Shinkansen project,” Jaishankar said, amid speculation that India might soon clinch a deal with Japan for procurement of coaches for the bullet train project.