05/12/2019 - International Relations | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 5 years

KEY POINTS

· India and Japan concluded their maiden ‘2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Meeting’ in New Delhi recently.

· For India, this is the only other 2+2 dialogue apart from that with the US.

· This clearly shows the importance that New Delhi assigns to the relationship with Japan.

· As Japan opens up its defence sector, as envisaged in the 2018 National Defence Programme Guidelines (NDPG), there could be definite areas of cooperation in this sector too.

· Japan has agreed to undertake a third of the aircraft’s manufacture and this could be an important step towards boosting the ‘Make in India’ initiative.

· For instance, if in the next round of armoured vehicles manufacturing India and Japan cooperate, Mitsubishi, which already is into manufacturing such vehicles, could jointly work with Indian companies.

Cyber security potential

· Artificial intelligence (AI) and chip manufacturing could set the trend for cooperation in cyber security and possibly the whole gamut of equipment modernising, and these could be made a part of the battle management system.

· Japanese companies are known for their superior chip-manufacturing capabilities and the next generation of AI-induced chips could be developed by the two nations and deployed. Even enabling 5G secured connectivity could be an area to dwell on

· The earlier announced $12 billion ‘Japan-India Make-in-India Special Finance Facility’ fund is a very good step to boost confidence. Clearly, the next round of 2+2 should have a roadmap for the initial areas of cooperation.

· Besides continuing the military exercises, the Japanese NDPG and India’s increasing focus on building the defence manufacturing ecosystem with thrust on ‘Make in India’ offer the best scope for improving bilateral cooperation.