India–Japan Relations

Abstract

Prime Minister Mori’s visit to India in 2000 began a new era in the India–Japan partnership, resulting in a surge in Japanese aid and investment into India. Japanese aid facilitated infrastructure development, health, water and sanitation programmes of India. Japanese investment also predominantly flowed into the automobile and the electronic sectors. The relationship followed the standard practice that was witnessed in Japan’s relations with other countries in Asia. However, Koizumi’s visit in 2005 brought a ‘strategic’ component into the purview of the India–Japan partnership. From 2010 onwards, especially with Shinzo Abe’s ascendency as the premier of Japan in 2012, this relationship further strengthened the strategic trajectory. China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean and in the Asian region and the changing priorities of the US have drawn the two nations closer, strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries by diverting the Japanese investment to long-term infrastructure projects and many public–private partnerships which address the strategic concerns. The main focus of this article is to highlight how the relationship between India and Japan no longer rests only on ‘complementary economic needs’, but rather that this economic cooperation is being used as a tool to gain strategic strength in the larger canvas of the ‘Indo-Pacific region’.