India, Japan will work to strengthen ‘Peacetime Cooperation’: Jaishankar

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• About India-Japan Relationship
• News Summary

 Why in News?

• Speaking at an event recently, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said that India and Japan would rather work to strengthen their “peacetime cooperation”.

About India-Japan Relationship

• History –
  • Japan and India signed a peace treaty and established diplomatic relations in April, 1952.
  • This treaty was one of the first peace treaties Japan signed after World War II.
• Recent engagements –
  • PM Yoshiro Mori’s visit to India in August 2000 provided the momentum to strengthen the Japan-India relationship.
  • Mr. Mori and Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee decided the establishment of “Global Partnership between Japan and India“.
  • When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited Japan in December 2006, Japan-India relationship was elevated to the “Global and Strategic Partnership“.
  • In September 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid an official visit to Japan and had a summit meeting with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
  • They concurred to upgrade the bilateral relationship to “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”.
• Cooperation in Security Fields –
  • During Prime Minister Singh’s visit to Japan in October 2008, two leaders issued ” Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation between Japan and India“.
  • There are also various frameworks of security and defense dialogue between Japan and India including –
    • Foreign and Defense Ministerial Meeting (“2+2” meeting),
    • Annual Defense Ministerial Dialogue and
    • Coast Guard-to-Coast Guard dialogue
  • In 2020, both signed the Agreement Concerning Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between the Self-Defense Forces of Japan and the Indian Armed Forces (so-called ACSA).
• Economic Relations –
  • India was the 18th largest trading partner for Japan, and Japan was the 13th largest trading partner for India in 2021.
  • Japan was the 5th largest investor for India in FY2021.
  • Japan’s bilateral trade with India, totalled US$ 17.63 billion in FY 2018-19.
• Economic Assistance –
  • India has been the largest recipient of Japanese ODA Loan for the past decades.
  • Delhi Metro is one of the most successful examples of Japanese cooperation through the utilization of ODA.
  • Besides, Japan and India had committed to build High-Speed Railway in India.
  • Japan continues to cooperate in supporting strategic connectivity linking India to Southeast Asia through the synergy between ”Act East” policy and ”Partnership for Quality Infrastructure”.
• Indian Diaspora in Japan: More than 40,000 Indians are residing in Japan.

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News Summary

• In his address to the two-day India-Japan Forum organised by the Ananta Centre and the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Jaishankar praised Japan for being an “exemplar moderniser” that is a role model for India.
• He also credited Japan with several industrial “revolutions” in India including the introduction of the Maruti-Suzuki collaboration for a passenger car, Metro rail services in various Indian cities, etc.
• He added the both countries are already doing some cooperation in the security sphere, referring to India-Japan military and maritime exercises that included the first-ever joint fighter exercise in January this year.
• He was asked about what kind of “wartime cooperation” could be expected from India to Japan in case of a war in the Taiwan straits.
• He said that by strengthening “peace, stability and security” in the region, India and Japan could ensure that “many of the worst fears” would not be realised.

Q1) Which countries participate in Malabar Exercise?

Malabar Exercise started off in 1992 as a bilateral naval exercise between Indian and US navies. In 2015, Japan joined the exercise Malabar, making it a trilateral naval exercise.

Q2)  Which countries are the largest shareholders in the Asian Development Bank?

ADB’s five largest shareholders are Japan and the United States (each with 15.6% of total shares), the People’s Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), and Australia (5.8%).

Source: India, Japan will work to strengthen ‘peacetime cooperation’: Jaishankar | Min of Foreign Affairs Japan