Separated by an entire ocean by sea and 3,700 miles by land, Japan and India wouldn’t make the most obvious pair of allies. But geopolitics often produce interesting bedfellows.
India and Japan recently announced that their militaries will be increasing joint cooperation in various exercises. The first news came in late October, when the Indian Navy and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF)announced the start of an air-based anti-submarine warfare exercise in the Indian Ocean. The exercises began on 28 October and are the second major India-Japan exercises this year focused on anti-submarine warfare, the first having taken place during the trilateral Malabar exercises with the United States this past summer.
According to the Indian Navy’s official spokesperson, Captain D. K. Sharma, the India-Japan exercise involves a single Indian P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft and an MSDF P-3C Orion anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The Indian Navy shared video footage of the Japanese P-3C and the Indian P-8I taking off from Indian Naval Air Station Hansa in Goa, India. Japan, being the island nation that it is, has quite a bit of expertise in the naval arena, and the Indians were happy for the opportunity to “share domain experience.”
Common Interests and a Common Enemy
India and Japan have been steadily increasing their military-to-military cooperation over the last decade. The two countries began large-scale joint exercises in 2012, with a series of naval drills known as JIMEX. India and Japan are now close partners.
Of course the main factor motivating New Delhi and Tokyo’s mutual cooperation has been to counter their common adversary, China. Both Japan and India are concerned by China’s rapid military modernization—especially their naval ambitions—in the broader Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
This is why the Indo-Japanese partnership has attracted two other important partners with similar interests: the other regional democracy Australia, as well as the United States. This group, informally known as the Quad, was intended to be a bulwark against China—that is, at least for three of its members. Australia became a bit uncomfortable with talk of “containing” and “checking” Chinese power and has been the least enthusiastic member when it comes to that goal. However, the creation of Quad did strengthen the bonds between all four countries in both the military and economic endeavors in the Indo-Pacific. Now India and China are on a path of bringing that effort up a notch.
When Infrastructure and Defense Pair Up
The most recent joint-project between India and Japan is nothing less than a plan to counter Chinese ambitions with civil projects backed by military cooperation.
In the beginning of November, the Indian and Japanese armies began to hold joint military exercises in the troubled northeastern Indian state of Mizoram.
The impetus for these drills is to prepare for protecting Japan’s sizable projected investments in the area. Japan has ramped up funding commitments in the region in recent years with planned expenses reaching $6 billion. This includes a $300 million loan for upgrading the local highway network. In return, Japanese companies obtained opportunities for investment in various civil and infrastructural projects. The counterterrorism nature of the India-Japan exercises is clearly aimed at defending these upcoming projects from attacks from insurgent groups in the region.
It is no wonder why China is as opposed as it is to the increased cooperation between its oriental rival and southern neighbor.
