India and Japan reiterated their commitment to work together towards a free and open Indo-Pacific in Tokyo, reports The Times of India on September 4. Indian Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh and Japanese Minister of Defence, Takeshi Iwaya also affirmed their intention to hold the first foreign and defence ministerial dialogue (2+2) ahead of the Japan-India Annual Summit this year (2019) for advancing cooperation towards peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region. Singh and Iwaya also shared their view to accelerate the working-level efforts to hold the Fifth Joint Working Group on Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation as early as possible in this year.
“The Ministers recognised that peace and stability of the Indian and Pacific Oceans are crucial for ensuring prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and the entire world, and had a frank exchange of views on the current security situation in the Indo-Pacific region, including developments on the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea… Shared their intention that Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) and Indian Navy will make efforts towards participating in multilateral exercises including participation as observers”, the Indian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
In this regard, the Ministers welcomed both the Japan-India-U.S. trilateral maritime exercise ‘Malabar 2019’, which would be held from late September to early October, and the second Japan-India-U.S. trilateral mine-countermeasures exercise (MINEX) that was held in July, The Armies and Air Forces of India and Japan held their first bilateral exercises, ‘Dharma Guardian’ and ‘Shinyuu Maitri’, in 2018. Last year, Japan also joined the India-US Air Force exercise ‘Cope India’ as an observer for the first time.