The recent meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the October 2024 ASEAN Summit underscored the deepening strategic alignment between Tokyo and New Delhi. PM Ishiba reiterated Japan’s 2023 Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy, while PM Modi re-emphasised India’s 2019 Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), a voluntary, inclusive, and essential framework for India’s global rise. This meeting reaffirmed their commitment to Indo-Pacific security and broadened bilateral cooperation beyond traditional areas like trade, investment, infrastructure, security, technology, and cultural exchanges. India’s emergence as a global power, driven by economic progress, security capabilities, and diplomatic proactiveness, has been further propelled by Japan’s recognition of India as an indispensable partner for its Indo-Pacific objectives, particularly since the Abe administration, fostering greater convergence in their security visions.
India as an emerging power: A Japanese perspective
In 2007, PM Abe declared before the Indian Parliament that the India-Japan partnership was pivotal for Asian security, viewing India as an irrefutable power in the Indian Ocean. He strongly supported India’s entry into the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) and foresaw a strategic role for both nations in a free and open Indo-Pacific. Over a decade and a half after PM Abe’s “Confluence of Two Seas” speech, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida in 2023 positioned himself as a successor to Abe’s FOIP vision, signalling continuity and renewed vigour in Indo-Japanese relations.
At the heart of Japan’s FOIP strategy is the objective to uphold a stable, rules-based regional order amid shifting power dynamics, cementing Japan’s unique position as a stable, normative Indo-Pacific power. This vision is acutely shaped by the assertive rise of China, Russia’s challenging posture, North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, and the perceived relative decline of US unipolar influence. In this complex environment, Japan views India as a like-minded democratic partner of immense significance and an imminent power.