DPG Policy Brief
India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue Marks Modest Progress
Authors Commodore Lalit Kapur (Retd.)
Date: August 24, 2024
India holds 2+2 ministerial meetings with only four countries: the US, Japan, Australia and Russia. In this policy brief, the author provides an overview of the outcomes of the third India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial Meeting that was held in New Delhi on August 20, 2024.
Although India and Japan have long shared the strategic vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive, peaceful, resilient and prosperous, and recognise the critical role of their special partnership in maintaining regional stability, they have not yet effectively translated these cornerstones into defence cooperation. The volume of cooperative military activity has no doubt grown in terms of dialogues and exercises, but a reading of the joint statement of the latest 2+2 ministerial indicates that only some elements of the low-hanging fruit have so far been addressed. A more substantive, mutually reinforcing engagement through defence equipment and technology cooperation remains elusive.
Regulatory impediments to technology sharing and a paucity of political will on the Japanese side continue to stymie effective defence cooperation. A case in point is negotiations for the transfer of NORA-50 Unicorn antennas for the Indian Navy, which have been ongoing for over three years and still await resolution .
Outside the ambit of the US deterrent posture in East Asia, the only two Asian powers capable of strengthening regional resolve to resist unilateral coercion and expansionism across the Indo-Pacific are India and Japan. Under PM Kishida, Japan has increasingly been involved with US alliance preoccupations with the conflict in Ukraine, to the detriment of bolstering Indo-Pacific security. Unless this focus changes, India-Japan defence cooperation will struggle to enhance strategic stability in the region.
To read this Policy Brief Volume IX, Issue 20, please click “India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue Marks Modest Progress”.
Although India and Japan have long shared the strategic vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific that is inclusive, peaceful, resilient and prosperous, and recognise the critical role of their special partnership in maintaining regional stability, they have not yet effectively translated these cornerstones into defence cooperation. The volume of cooperative military activity has no doubt grown in terms of dialogues and exercises, but a reading of the joint statement of the latest 2+2 ministerial indicates that only some elements of the low-hanging fruit have so far been addressed. A more substantive, mutually reinforcing engagement through defence equipment and technology cooperation remains elusive.
Regulatory impediments to technology sharing and a paucity of political will on the Japanese side continue to stymie effective defence cooperation. A case in point is negotiations for the transfer of NORA-50 Unicorn antennas for the Indian Navy, which have been ongoing for over three years and still await resolution .
Outside the ambit of the US deterrent posture in East Asia, the only two Asian powers capable of strengthening regional resolve to resist unilateral coercion and expansionism across the Indo-Pacific are India and Japan. Under PM Kishida, Japan has increasingly been involved with US alliance preoccupations with the conflict in Ukraine, to the detriment of bolstering Indo-Pacific security. Unless this focus changes, India-Japan defence cooperation will struggle to enhance strategic stability in the region.
To read this Policy Brief Volume IX, Issue 20, please click “India-Japan 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue Marks Modest Progress”.
