Free Indo-Pacific, China Threat, Expanding Ties: Here's Why Japan PM's Visit is Significant | 10 Points

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrived in India on Monday to explore ways to boost bilateral ties in areas of defence, security, trade and high technologies.

The Japanese prime minister arrived in Delhi at around 8 am on Monday on a nearly 27-hour visit to ramp up bilateral ties in a range of areas and discuss how convergence between India’s presidency of G20 and Japan’s presidency of the G7 can help address various global problems.

Here are key takeaways from the Japanese PM’s visit to India:

1. The Japanese PM is expected to unveil his plan for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” in view of India’s increasingly significant role in the region.
2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida will discuss bilateral economic and security cooperation, regional Indo-Pacific security agenda within the QUAD framework.
3. The two leaders will also discuss ways to confront pressing global challenges like rising food and energy prices, ensuring peace and stability in Indo-Pacific and expansion of overall bilateral ties.
4. On the bilateral front, the two sides are expected to focus on enhancing cooperation in a range of areas, including defence and security, trade and investment and high technologies.
5. During his visit to India in March last year, Kishida announced an investment target of five trillion Yen (Rs 3,20,000 crore) in India over the next five years. The two countries have a comprehensive economic partnership with a trade worth $20.57 billion in 2021-22. India imports Japanese goods worth around $14.5 billion.
6. “As Japan and India assumed the presidencies of the G7 and the G20 respectively this year I look forward to engaging in candid discussions with Prime Minister Modi on the roles that the G7 and the G20 should play in overcoming such challenges,” Kishida wrote in an article ahead of the visit.
7. He said Japan-India relations have advanced in various fields and that Japan would like to further enhance cooperation with India in its “smart city” projects.
8. The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military assertiveness is also likely to figure in the wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Modi and Kishida. The plan is expected to highlight India’s significance for the Indo-Pacific and Japan would seek India’s support to check China’s growing influence.
9. Delivering the prestigious Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in June last year, Kishida said he would lay out the plan for Indo-Pacific next spring. Japan has been pushing for a free and open Indo-Pacific with a view to maintaining and strengthening the rules-based international order in the region.
10. A report in Bloomberg has said that the Japanese Prime Minister is expected to seek India’s assistance to forge a broader and stronger coalition “to punish” Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

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