A recent joint Russia-China long-range air patrol, which forced Japan to scramble fighter jets, has underscored the extent to which the Indo-Pacific’s security environment is being tested. It was the latest indication that regional states are facing pressure that no country can manage in isolation — and that deeper, more coordinated security cooperation has become a strategic necessity.
In recent times, India, like other key regional players, has grown increasingly concerned by escalating regional threats. Chinese naval escalation across the Indo-Pacific — ranging from direct confrontation with the Philippine Navy to repeated incursions into Japan-claimed waters around the Senkaku Islands combined with continued ballistic missile tests by North Korea — necessitates defensive coordination and operational readiness.
Japan has joined in regional efforts together with the United States, playing a leading role in enhancing cooperation in response to such threats. It has brought forward by two years its defence spending targets under the new government and stressed the need for heightened urgency and determination in accelerating regional security initiatives.
The 29th edition of the Malabar naval exercise placed a spotlight on a crucial aspect of the region’s security dynamics: the strategic importance of India to this vision. A strong New Delhi-Tokyo relationship is becoming a fundamental pillar of Indo-Pacific security, linking naval capabilities from the Western Indian Ocean to the Pacific’s First Island Chain.
India an essential strategic partner
India has long been committed to maintaining stability across the Indo-Pacific; it is a strategic necessity for the country’s rapidly expanding commercial reach. Any disruption to shipping lanes would have severe economic consequences, particularly for India’s energy security, given its reliance on oil and gas imports.
Maritime security is therefore not a secondary concern for New Delhi, but a core national interest.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this commitment has been formalised through India’s own Indo-Pacific frameworks. While New Delhi endorses the principles of Japan’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision, it must carefully balance this with its China ties. The end result is its own Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), which shares clear synergies with Japan’s FOIP, now nearly a decade old.
India’s regional allies have welcomed its increasing engagement in multilateral defence forums. The establishment of an Indo-Pacific division within the Indian government to coordinate its participation in regional security mechanisms, including the Japan-US-India-Australia Quad grouping which enables joint maritime planning and defence cooperation, is a welcome step.
However, China’s growing bellicosity in the Indo-Pacific suggests that diplomatic coordination alone is insufficient. New Delhi’s inclusive policy balances India’s desire for regional stability with the strategic realities of operating along China’s western flank.
For Tokyo, India now stands as an essential strategic partner, not a peripheral player. Precisely because it can anchor the Western Indo-Pacific and complement Japan’s leadership in the East.
In maritime terms, Japan’s technological sophistication and defensive capabilities align naturally with India’s growing blue-water reach and central geographic position. Together, they can act as a counterweight to the Chinese navy, enabling complementary coverage across vital sea lanes both in the Western and Eastern parts of the Indo-Pacific.
While Japan focuses on the Western Pacific, India would be a natural fit to provide naval overwatch along China’s maritime routes through the Strait of Malacca and into the Indian Ocean.
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A new reality
The strategic logic of a deepening relationship is clear, and it is beginning to materialise into concrete operational and industrial cooperation.
Through the Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership, both nations have expanded intelligence exchanges and military coordination. This has been followed by the signing of a Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation, as well as a Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services Agreement. There are aspirations for future co-development of essential maritime technology — from radar and unmanned systems to surveillance technology.
Japan and India’s deepening bilateral relationship is also complemented by broader multilateral frameworks. The Quad remains the central platform for coordinating a cohesive security strategy in the Indo-Pacific, and ASEAN continues to serve as a crucial venue for dialogue and consensus-building among regional states. But the Japan-India relationship is increasingly becoming an important enabler of these networks, bridging the region’s Eastern and Western theatres of security.
The politics is equally important. Tokyo has been explicit. Japan’s new Defence Minister, Shinjirō Koizumi, used his inauguration to deliver a stark assessment of the region’s trajectory, warning that Japan now faces ‘the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II’.
He argued that this new reality requires a strengthening of defence capabilities, a reinforcement of deterrence, and deeper ties with like-minded partners across the Indo-Pacific.
New Delhi’s actions have complemented this approach. India’s strategic autonomy does not dilute its ability to act in support of IPOI and FOIP principles. Both governments recognise that the erosion of freedom of navigation is fundamentally incompatible with their strategic and economic interests.
If Tokyo and New Delhi continue to pair credible and coordinated action, their shared vision for an Indo-Pacific free from unilateral aggression and the prospects for maintaining an open and stable region will be significantly strengthened. The partnership is no longer optional. It is fast becoming an indispensable pillar of Indo-Pacific security and the rule of law. Deepening it further should be a very high priority.
Stewart Eldon is former UK Ambassador to the NATO Council and a long-time analyst of Indo-Pacific security. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
Why are you giving a platform to a British NATO stooge? They want nothing more than to turn Asia into another warzone.