Post Covid 19 Strategic Priorities The India Japan Action Agenda (original) (raw)

Indo-Pacific Order and Japan–India Relations in the Midst of COVID-19

Journal of Asian Economic Integration

Because of the USA’s relative decline of national power and the rapid emergence of China, the Indo-Pacific lacks a regional order as existed during the latter half of the twentieth century. The USA and China have had strained relations since the 2010s as economic and hegemonic rivals. Furthermore, at the cusp of the 2020s, a blame game is unfolding over COVID-19. Neither nation can be expected to serve a role as an order manager of peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. Under such international situations, Japan and India should cooperate to initiate consideration of the regional order now. To establish such an order for the future, ends and means carry an importance. The ends should be the creation of a free, open, inclusive and democratic Indo-Pacific. The means should be some mechanisms based on principles of multilateralism, for example, Quad-Plus, not only involving the four countries: like-minded countries should also be included. In this way, we can find a silver lining bey...

India's Grand Strategy in East Asia in the Era of COVID-19

Journal of Indian and Asian Studies, 2021

Since the election of Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government in May 2014, India's approach to East Asia has changed, principally in response to pressures exerted by China. The Modi government inherited an East Asia strategy that combined a push for greater diplomatic and economic linkages with the region, an effort to improve Sino-Indian relations through a mix of engagement and deterrence, and a strengthening of security ties with the United States (US) and its allies. During its first three years in office, this paper argues that the Modi government stuck with this approach but attempted to pursue it more energetically as well as to assert India's interests more clearly and forcefully in interactions with Beijing. After the Doklam standoff in 2017, however, India was pushed to assume a more clearly competitive stance, despite concerns about the reliability of Donald J. Trump's new administration in Washington, China's growing belligerence towards India and the rest of the region, and the impact of COVID-19. This stance entails both internal and external balancing, and a push for greater economic self-reliance that implies some decoupling from China, but which also has implications for India's relations with other countries in East Asia.

India-Japan Relations and the Chinese Aggression in the Post COVID-19 Era

2020

The world at present is facing the worst global pandemic COVID-19. China's Wuhan emerged as the epicenter and as the virus spread across the world, it shattered world economies, imbalanced the fiscal markets, and led to a severe shortage of healthcare facilities. Countries have been scrambling for medical supplies and trying their level best to support supply chains as China being the hub of manufacturing, shut down the factories inevitably halting the global supply chain, which has made countries rethink their dependence on China. Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and the East China Sea and its build-up of artificial Islands used as military bases has at present started an anti-China sentiment. India and Japan have also been victims of Chinese aggression in the past and now again, due to the above-mentioned reasons; India and Japan have yet again come closer in this disastrous COVID-19 time. In this context, the article traces down the evolution of the relations between...

India in Japan’s Geo-strategic Outlook.pdf

Journal of Defence Studies, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2016

Japan’s long-standing alliance with the US is the key feature of its defence and security policy. However, China’s rise and impact on shaping the regional security architecture, and the vigour of US commitment in the backdrop of a G2 formulation, is making Japan diversify her options. Thus, India now features in the Japanese idea of Asia while it struggles to cope with the fluidity of the regional security landscape. This article critically analyses the increasing space accorded to India and the variables behind Japan’s courtship of it. It probes whether Japan’s India policy is Abe centric, or more enduring in nature, and examines India’s position in Japan’s defence outlook as Tokyo redesigns its security policy. India’s advent in the Japanese geo-strategic frame will endure since the variables that pushed Japan to incorporate India in its strategic design will mature and complicate the regional security environment in the coming years

India-Japan Vision 2025: Deciphering the Indo-Pacific Strategy

Indian Foreign Affairs Journal , 2018

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s strategic pursuit of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, anchored in his conceptualisation of ‘Confluence of the Two Seas’ and founded on the principle of concert of democracies, has created space for India in Japan’s Grand Strategy. India has been identified as a key variable in the geopolitical churning that is shaping the Indo-Pacific discourse both in Japan and the US. However, as policy positions are articulated by respective leaders, ambiguities around the Indo-Pacific puzzle demands more clarity. While President Trump and Prime Minister Abe are aligned in terms of pursuing the Indo-Pacific strategy with the objective of managing the US-led strategic order amidst Chinese attempts in claiming equity in international affairs with alternative ideas and institutions, Prime Minister Modi has articulated India’s Indo-Pacific vision as a free, open and ‘inclusive’ construct. India’s approach toward geopolitical realities is guided by a balance between engagement and autonomy. While there is alignment of interests which has led India to develop an ‘action oriented partnership’ for its Indo-Pacific Vision 2025 with Japan and pursue robust security and economic engagement with the US but containment of China has not been the objective of India’s foreign policy approach. Meanwhile, Japan’s strategy is shaped by the complex interplay of security and economic interests within the Japan-US-China triangle. Although there are certain gaps in each country’s nuanced interpretation of the Indo-Pacific construct, a few common elements define India-Japan ‘winning combination’ in the Indo-Pacific such as upholding ASEAN centrality; the objective of securing strategic stability and economic prosperity based on the pillars of shared universal values; facilitating infrastructure and connectivity between the sub-regions including Bay of Bengal, Mekong region and the Indian Ocean for better economic integration and leveraging regional production networks and value chains; and securing maritime global commons by strengthening security cooperation with like-minded partners. India-Japan Vision 2025 is rooted on ‘action oriented partnership’ advancing universal values and furthering rule-based order in the Indo-Pacific. As regional fluidity both in terms of geopolitics and geo-economics are unfolding greater uncertainty, India and Japan as two major Asian powers and economies have coordinated in forward thinking while steering the challenges and realising the opportunities that this maritime super-region has to offer.

India and Japan: Exploring Strategic Potentials Focus

2010

The strategic environment of the world, particularly in Asia, is in a state of dramatic flux. The overwhelming economic and military presence of the United States in Asia is on the wane. China is a rising power, both economically and militarily, and its power projection capabilities are causing concern amongst its neighbours. Though the United States is a declining power, China is not the logical successor, not at least in the near term. These developments have led to realignment of power equations between countries in Asia. In this unfolding strategic landscape, India and Japan, two important players in Asia, are exploring the strategic dimension of their relationships. While growth momentum in the economic domain is not at the desired level, the institutional political structure provides the platform for honing the potentials to their mutual benefits. As a result, a great deal of commonalities is now visible in strengthening bilateral ties in political, economic and security field...

Japan–India Relations Beyond Coping with China in the Indo-Pacific Region

The journal of Indian and Asian studies, 2021

The Indo-Pacific region is said to be the center of the 21st century, unlike the Asia-Pacific in the 20th century. In the region, China is emerging rapidly in terms of economic strength, defense capability, and international presence. The US and other concerned countries are striving to cope with the new development. It looks that the US manages to somehow retain its Pax Americana as in the latter half of the last century. China which dreams to head for Pax Sinica has been implementing various measures including removing unfavorable circumstances to promote its dream. At the moment, it is hard to make prompt predictions on how these two Pax would be going. The key question would be ways to deal with China. Typical policies now under implementation are engaging policy represented by the RCEP and balancing policy by the Quad. These two policies have a timeline of short-term policy and middle-term policy. Perhaps, contents of the policies would be finalized depending upon China's economic development as one of the major factors. To bring about peace and stability of the region, in tandem with them, it might be necessary to bring about a regional order of the Indo-Pacific where it has been lacking. The close relations of Japan and India could be utilized for such a purpose also. Although COVID-19 is afflicting the whole region, it is hoped that the pandemic could be overcome by vaccines and other measures in the near future. It is the right time now to ponder over the future direction of the Indo-Pacific region before it is too late.

India's Foreign Policy towards Japan: Special Partnership amid Regional Transformation

Ritsumeikan Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, 2020

India and Japan have upgraded their cordial relations to a special strategic partnership. The deepening of this relation is particularly evident since 2014, when Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India, thus leading the nation to embark on a new journey of consolidating regional influence and establishing itself as a regional power amid the rise of China and regional transformations. India is very keen on furthering the special partnership with Japan, which not only allows Indian presence in regional strategic and security architecture, but also does not hinder the Indian autonomy. This paper, through the analysis of India's Japan strategy, security and infrastructure agreements, especially since 2014, seeks to address how India's foreign policy towards Japan has undergone changes to allow for India's greater role in Asia and what factors have led to these changes in India's Japan policy. The paper argues that realist perspective of balance of power in the backdrop of the rise of China as well as constructivist perspective of India's principle of nonalignment (despite strategic friendships), have been the base of India's Japan policy under Modi government, to pursue and promote greater Indian presence in geo-political and geo-strategic spheres. The paper analyses the India-Japan partnership as a response to emerging regional security challenges, explores the prospects of the partnership and charts the course of changing Indian diplomacy towards Japan.

India and Japan: Assessing the Strategic Partnership

India and Japan: Assessing the Strategic Partnership, 2018

This volume focuses on the rapidly expanding strategic relationship between India and Japan, expanding on the hitherto under-analyzed concept of “strategic partnership,” tracing the history of the interaction, and gauging its current and future trajectories. The rise of China and its challenge to U.S. dominance of the global system is the setting in which the partnership has assumed a major profile, incorporating both defence and economic cooperation on an unprecedented scale. The increasing congruence of Indian and Japanese interests is juxtaposed with the inherent limitations of the partnership to portray a complex picture of a kind of strategic relationship that has become a staple of contemporary international politics.

Japan's strategic outreach to India and the prospects of a Japan–India alliance

International Affairs, 2018

Largely driven by Japan's strategic outreach to India, Tokyo and Delhi have rapidly improved relations and enhanced their strategic cooperation since the turn of the century. Today, developments in bilateral relations are moving faster than journalists and analysts can track, leading many observers to posit the emergence of Japan–India alliance. This article analyses the reasons behind Japan's strategic outreach to India and explores the conditions under which an alliance—understood as a formal association of states for the use (or nonuse) of military force in specific circumstances against a third party—might emerge between the two countries. It draws on existing scholarship on interstate alliances to examine the possible objectives, contours, operation and impact of such an alliance. It concludes that there are major obstacles in the way of an alliance forming and operating successfully. These include India's commitment to strategic autonomy; the incentives for limiting commitments and ‘buck-passing’ within a putative alliance; Chinese opposition and Beijing's ability to economically punish both parties; and differing views on US hegemony, world order and future Great Power status. Ultimately, Japan and India are better off being aligned—as they currently are—and not allied.