New Delhi: Japan considers India as as a new partner in Asia, noted the three-member delegation from the National Institute of Defence Studies (NIDS), Tokyo, Japan, that visited IDSA for the IDSA-NIDS Bilateral on September 25, 2013.
The Japanese experts noted that the Japanese Prime Minister Abe sees India as an important factor in his idea of “maritime democracy in Asia”. They said that the Japanese Premier has special leanings for India as his grandfather had met the first Prime Minister of India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru more than once.
The delegation pointed out that India-Japan relations have transformed from a resources driven trade ties to a strategic partnership. The EPA signed in 2011 has given a new dimension to the bilateral relationship as the trade between the two countries have seen a 38% jump as compare to 2010 statistics. India-Japan relations have a great potential and the future looks optimistic.
Issues of mutual interests, such as defence management and security reforms in Japan and India, civil-military relations in India and Japan and India-Japan bilateral cooperation on regional security issues were also discussed.
This was the second meeting between NIDS and IDSA this year. The first meeting of 2013 was held in Tokyo in February. The bilateral discussion was chaired by Director General, IDSA, Dr Arvind Gupta.
Dr Gupta welcomed the delegation and mentioned that the past bilateral dialogues between IDSA and NIDS have been useful in developing a shared understanding on regional security issues. IDSA has a long-standing bilateral understanding with NIDS, Japan. IDSA was represented by Col Vivek Chadha, Col Rajneesh Singh, Dr Shamshad A Khan and other East Asia Centre members.
Dr Marie Izuyama was the leader of the NIDS delegation. Other members of NIDS team were: Dr Hikaru Yamashita and Dr Shinji Hyodo. Issues that were discussed by the Japanese side included India-Japan peacekeeping cooperation, Russia-China relationship, National Security reform in Japan. It was noted that the cabinet approved the National Security Council Bill in Japan in June 2013 and Japan is in process of setting its National Security Council (NSC).
Dr Gupta concluded the discussion by noting that a strong India-Japan partnership is important for regional security. He also pointed out that both countries must enforce greater cooperation on civil nuclear issues and there must be sincere efforts for joint defence production and overall development of security cooperation.
India Is Important for Japan’s Maritime Democracy in Asia: NIDS