India-Japan Ties | Gist of Rajya Sabha TV / RSTV (now Sansad TV) - UPSC PDF Download

Context 

This episode of perspective is based on “India Japan Relations”

Background

• In the midst of escalating hostilities related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the India-Japan bilateral meeting was conducted.
• The bilateral ties between India and Japan were further strengthened during talks between the two prime ministers.
• It is anticipated that Japan and India would strengthen their commercial ties and evaluate the conditions in the Indo-Pacific and Ukraine.

India-Japan Relations

• The year 2022 marks 70 years of diplomatic relations between the countries.
• The friendly relationship between the two countries has a long history rooted in spiritual, cultural and civilization ties. 
• The relations between the two countries were revived by Japanese Prime Minister Mori in 2000 when the Japan-India Global Partnership in the 21st century was established.
• In 2006, both the Prime Ministers signed to upgrade the partnership to a Global and Strategic Partnership with the provision of annual Prime Ministerial Summits. 
• In 2014, in the 9th Annual Summit Meeting, two sides upgraded the relationship to a ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’.

Significance of defence and strategic relations

• Since PM Mori's historic visit to the two nations in 2000, the defence ties between the two nations have undergone a substantial development.
• Additionally, both nations joined the QUAD, a global security dialogue.
• Geopolitical policies in the Indo-Pacific area heavily rely on the bilateral security ties between the two nations.
• Due to the fact that both nations are regional powerhouses with significant strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific, which is now considered to be the theatre of world politics, their relationship is more important.
• The nations also have similar viewpoints and shared interests on a number of other topics.
• According to experts, India and Japan are the only two nations in the world to have such high levels of strategic agreement.
• The influence of China on India and Japan's strategic ties has also been significant.
• It has become imperative for both nations to have stronger and deeper strategic and defence relations as a result of the growth of China as a superpower in the region, which threatens and poses a substantial risk to the common interests of India and Japan in the region.

Economic Ties Between the Countries

• Both the countries are a part of many global groupings such as the Supply Chain Resilience Initiative (SCRI).
  • SCRI is a trilateral approach to trade, with India and Australia. 
  • Supply chain resilience is an approach wherein a country, instead of being dependent on just one or a few nations, has diversified its supply risk across a range of supplying nations.
• Also, a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed between Japan and India in 2011.
• The recently launched Technical Intern Training Program (TITP) which aims to send Indian technical interns to Japan for on-the-job training for a period of three to five years also has a huge potential to deepen economic ties.
• An India-Japan Digital Partnership (I-JDP) further increases cooperation in S&T/ICT, focusing more on “Digital ICT Technologies”. 
  • This also includes establishing a “Start-up Hub” between India and Japan.
• The vast market in India, along with its human resources, recent reforms by the government in terms of taxation, subsidies, infrastructure investment, labour, finance and governance would attract further investments from Japan

India’s Imports from Japan (in Million Dollars)

India’s Exports to Japan (in Million Dollars)

Way Forward

• Considering the fact that there are more Nepalese and Vietnamese in Japan than Indians there is a need to further increase people-to-people contact.
• In the strategic aspect, India needs to acknowledge the fact that it is the only QUAD member with a divergent stand against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
  • India also needs to take into account the disturbances between Japan and Russia and the fact that there is no peace treaty between Japan and Russia.
• As China is causing problems to both countries,
  • Japan in Senkaku Island and the South China Sea
  • India in Ladakh and the Eastern sectors
  • Both the countries must align their policies and show confluence in countering China and its dominance in the region.
• Further, the two countries must look to overcome the disruptions in trade that have been caused due to the COVID pandemic.
• India must look to scale up its business in Japan and with initiatives such as Make in India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, Skill India programme and PM Gati Shakti, India has provided attractive market opportunities for Japan.
• India must also focus on improving ease of doing business and in skill-building that will help attract Japanese investments into India.