Discussion on India-Japan Relations, G7 Summit and Indo-Pacific Region

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The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) organised a roundtable discussion on “India-Japan Relations, G7 Summit and Indo-Pacific Region” on 15 May, 2023. Amb. Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa chaired the session and gave the opening remarks. The panel of speakers included Mr. Seiichiro Taguchi, Minister-Political Affairs, Embassy of Japan; Prof. Ashok Kumar Chawla, Advisor, East Asia Division, MEA; Prof. Srabani Roy Choudhury, Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, JNU; Dr. Satoru Nagao, Fellow, Hudson Institute, Tokyo and; Dr. Titli Basu, Associate Professor, Centre for East Asian Studies, JNU. Lt. Gen. R.K. Sawhney (Retd.), Amb. Anil Wadhwa, Amb. Skand Tayal, Gp. Cap. Naval Jagota (Retd.), Mr. Kanav Monga, and Dr. Harinder Sekhon participated. Dr Arvind Gupta, Director, VIF, gave the concluding remarks.

The discussion emphasised the importance that India and Japan hold for each other as friends and partners. PM Fumio Kishida’s visit to India in March and announcement of Japan’s Indo-Pacific plan from New Delhi projected India as an “indispensable partner” of Japan in the Indo-Pacific region. It was highlighted that PM Kishida has been pushing for a free and rule-based international order both in Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. At the same time, there is an outreach towards the Global South through investments in infrastructure by expanding its Official Development Assistance (ODA) and revising its Development Cooperation Charter. Japan also seeks to an “offer-type” cooperation, introduce new framework for "private capital mobilisation-type" grant aid and amend the Japan Bank for International Cooperation Law.

Japan and India respectively preside over the G7 and G20 for 2023 which is of great geopolitical significance for both the countries. PM Narendra Modi will visit Hiroshima for the G7 summit and PM Kishida will again be in India in September to participate in the G20. It was noted that the outcomes of G7 will have an impact on the G20.

The implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and situation in Taiwan straits in the Indo-Pacific region were brainstormed. The discussion emphasised on the challenges that hinder India and Japan for greater cooperation and the ways to overcome them. Some of the pertinent regional and global issues such as economic resilience, climate change, technology as well as food and energy security were also deliberated upon by the participants.