India, Japan deepen strategic ties with maritime security cooperation deal

Defence ministers sign a bilateral deal on maritime security cooperation, with an eye on the Indo-Pacific region

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi on Thursday to discuss the bilateral strategic partnership, which largely focused on the Indo-Pacific region. They signed a "memorandum of arrangement" on maritime security, emphasising pragmatic operational cooperation. 

 

According to a joint statement issued after the meeting in New Delhi, the two countries will strengthen cooperation between the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Indian Navy, including information-sharing on maritime domain awareness, and efforts such as search and rescue at sea. 

 

To further cooperation among the services (the armed forces) of the two countries, the ministers "concurred on promoting exchanges between their respective special operations forces and pursuing cooperation with India's integrated theatre commands, following their establishment" (in the future), according to the statement.

 

 

India's Cabinet Committee on Security has yet to approve the plan for the theatre commands. The country is expected to have at least one maritime command, given India's strategic interests in the Indian Ocean. 

 

Both countries will better coordinate the protection of sea lines of communication through the mutual visits of naval ships, joint exercises, personnel and subject matter experts and logistical support such as the use of ports, maintenance and repair facilities, the statement said.

 

The ministers have decided to "move swiftly" to realise concrete maritime security cooperation that serves both countries' strategic and operational needs. India and Japan would "maximise synergies to enhance mine countermeasures capabilities and explore the possibility of joint development in naval shipbuilding and design by leveraging Japan’s technological expertise and India’s production capabilities", it added.

 

They also discussed establishing a working group to advance cooperation, "in an integrated manner, across the operational, intelligence, equipment, technology and industrial domains, while fully respecting each country’s respective policies and sovereign choices".

 

The ministers welcomed the strengthening of defence cooperation at the government level and among the armed forces of the two countries that share perspectives under "the Japan-India special strategic and global partnership" agreement, which, according to the statement, constitutes a "pillar for peace, stability and prosperity" in the Indo-Pacific region.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi in New Delhi in July. The two leaders then spoke about deepening ties to realise the mutual goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. 

 

Japan and India, along with the United States (US) and Australia are members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad. The grouping, formally created some time after the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, has not held a summit since 2024 but it announced a maritime agreement earlier this year. For a while at least, the Quad's unstated mission was to act as a platform to counter China's naval expansion in the Indo-Pacific region. While the Quad's critics have questioned the grouping's relevance, especially as the US' attention seems to turn away from Asia, they have said India, Japan and Australia continue to collaborate. 

 

At Thursday's bilateral meeting, Singh and Koizumi also discussed sharing assessments of the regional and international security environments amid heightened global tensions -- the war in West Asia and the US and Iranian blockades and counterblockades of the Strait of Hormuz that have pushed up global oil prices and closed off shipping lanes. US President Donald Trump recently said on Truth Social that he would soon declare the strait a US territory. Iran reacted by saying it controls chokepoints in the narrow waterway.  

 

"They expressed their strong opposition to any unilateral actions that impede freedom and safety of navigation and overflight, as well as to any attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion," the statement said. 

 

The fourth Japan-India foreign and defence ministers' meeting is expected to take place in Tokyo later this year.