Date: 07/09/2022

Relevance: GS-2: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India

Key Phrases: 2+2 dialogue, '2+2' ministerial format of dialogue, Underdeveloped bilateral security cooperation, Chinese aggression, Reorienting Japan’s diplomacy, Boosting national capabilities to deter aggression, Deepening defence partnerships

Why in News?

• As India’s defence and foreign ministers head to Tokyo for talks with their Japanese counterparts in the so-called 2+2 format, they are bound to exchange notes on their shared and mounting security challenges.
• China’s growing military capabilities and assertiveness on territorial disputes are at the heart of the deteriorating environment of India and Japan.

Underdeveloped bilateral security cooperation:

• Although India and Japan have had defence exchanges for nearly two decades, declared a common interest in keeping the Indo-Pacific “free and open”, and been partners in the Quadrilateral forum along with the US and Australia, their bilateral security cooperation remains underdeveloped.
• The innate caution in the Indian and Japanese defence bureaucracies has prevented the two sides from turning their stated strategic objectives into concrete outcomes.
• With Beijing turning up the heat on both, Delhi and Tokyo are scrambling to cope with the China challenge.

Areas of cooperation for the dialogue:

• It will be an opportunity for India to get a first-hand account from the Japanese leadership on Tokyo’s bold new plans to transform its military strategy and build on the common interest in preventing the rise of new hegemonism in the Indo-Pacific.
• The meeting will be an opportunity for the two sides to review regional security challenges at a time when India and Japan are concerned about China’s aggressive actions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
• The 2+2 meeting will also focus on enhancing exchanges between the armed forces and security establishments of the two sides and joint exercises.
• The Japanese side is keen to explore ways to work together on the joint development and manufacturing of advanced military hardware.
• Though Japan does not have a very well-established military manufacturing industry, it has expertise and materials that can be used for the joint development of equipment.

Japan’s new strategy in tackling the threats from China:

• Japan’s new strategy to cope with Chinese power involves three broad elements -
  • Reorienting Japan’s diplomacy
  • Boosting national capabilities to deter aggression
  • Deepening defence partnerships

Reorienting Japan’s diplomacy

• A new “realism diplomacy” will allow Japan to meet the new security challenges through pragmatism and firmness.

Boosting national capabilities to deter aggression:

• Japan will fundamentally reinforce its defence capabilities within the next five years and secure a substantial increase of its defence budget needed to effect it.
• Japan has recently called for raising the share of defence to two per cent of the GDP. Japan has traditionally limited its defence spending to one per cent.
• One focus is on building what is being called “counter-strike” weapons to deter Chinese aggression.
• In essence, it is about acquiring long-range missiles that can strike critical targets — including missile bases and command headquarters in China (and North Korea).
• While China’s missile arsenals are growing, Japan does not have long-range missiles, and the US had been under treaty obligations with Russia not to develop and deploy longer-range missiles in Asia.
• This is set to change as Japan and the US confront the problem of deterring China (as well as North Korea).
• Critics call such a counter-strike capability a departure from the principles of Japan’s peace constitution.
• Some experts call for defensive capabilities that can intercept the Chinese missiles on their way.

Impact of increasing defence expenditure:

• Given the size of the Japanese economy, which is the third-largest in the world, the small percentage of spending on defence did produce a reasonable defence budget — about $40 billion today.
• Japan is the 9th largest defence spender in the world. But a doubling of the defence allocation over the next few years could make it the third-largest defence spender after the US and China.

Deepening defence partnerships in the Indo-Pacific:

• Even as it builds national capabilities, Japan continues to emphasise the centrality of the alliance with the US in dealing with China.
• Tokyo is also looking to strengthen security partnerships with other like-minded countries such as Australia and India.
• Tokyo is also promising to strengthen the defence capabilities of the Indo-Pacific countries, unilaterally as well as through the Quad.
• It is also boosting defence and security cooperation with France and the UK.

Conclusion:

• As democratic countries in Asia, India and Japan can cooperate to contribute to global peace and prosperity.
• Both Countries share political, economic and strategic interests based on the firm foundations of common values and traditions.
• The focus during the dialogue should be to inject substantive military content into the strategic partnership between India and Japan. For there is much that Delhi and Tokyo could do together in meeting their common security challenges.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. How can India and Japan collaborate in the defence sector to cope with the China challenge? Discuss.