India, Japan and the Indo-Pacific: Evolution, Consolidation and Limitations of the Strategic Partnership
| Published date | 01 December 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/23477970241282067 |
| Author | Jojin V. John |
| Date | 01 December 2024 |
Research Article
India, Japan and the
Indo-Pacific: Evolution,
Consolidation and
Limitations of the
Strategic Partnership
Jojin V. John1
Abstract
India–Japan relations over the last two decades have become a regionally and
globally oriented ‘strategic partnership’ from a narrow bilateral relationship. A
key factor driving this transformation has been the discourse of the Indo-Pacific
regional construct. Considering the overwhelming space occupied by maritime
affairs in the bilateral strategic agenda, describing contemporary India–Japan
relations as an India–Japan Indo-Pacific Strategic Partnership is justified. The
article attempts to provide an evolutionary account of the India–Japan Indo-
Pacific strategic partnership. In doing so, it identifies four phases in the evolution
of the partnership: conception, actualisation, consolidation, and resilience,
corresponding to the evolution of the Indo-Pacific concept from a geographic
idea to a strategic concept to a regional order framework.
Keywords
India, Japan, China, Indo-Pacific, Quad, USA, security
Introduction
The concept of the Indo-Pacific, linked to a new regional framework that
combines the Indian and Pacific Ocean geographies into one strategic space,
has attracted considerable interest and is quickly replacing the four-decade-
old Asia-Pacific regional order. The idea of an integrated Indo-Pacific regional
Journal of Asian Security
and International Affairs
11(4) 515–535, 2024
© The Author(s) 2024
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DOI: 10.1177/23477970241282067
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1 School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam,
Kerala, India
Corresponding author:
Jojin V. John, School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP), Mahatma Gandhi University,
Kottayam, Kerala 686560, India.
E-mail: johnjojin@mgu.ac.in
516 Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs 11(4)
construct, initially proposed by the then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in
2007, has garnered backing from countries both within and outside the region,
notwithstanding significant opposition, particularly from Beijing and Moscow.
The Indo-Pacific constitutes multiple dynamics as a regional construct grounded
in shifting regional power dynamics (John, 2022). First, as a geographical idea,
it implies the emergence of a new strategic geography. Second, as a strategic
concept, it captures the evolving security dynamics in maritime Asia, especially
the intensifying strategic rivalry between the US and China and China and
other regional countries. Third, as a regional order vision, it represents a set of
regional governance mechanisms, including institutions, rules, and norms, which
are still evolving. These complex dynamics associated with the Indo-Pacific
have significant implications for the strategic outlook and foreign and security
practices of countries within and outside the region and have been at play in
shaping international alignments at bilateral, multilateral and minilateral levels.
On the back of Indo-Pacific discourse, India–Japan relations over the last two
decades have transformed into a regionally and globally oriented ‘strategic part-
nership’ from a narrowly defined bilateral relationship (Mahawar & John, 2023).
This transformation has received significant scholarly attention, as reflected in the
increasing number of publications that comprehensively document bilateral rela-
tions (Baru, 2023; Basrur & Narayanankutty, 2018; Khan, 2017; Mahawar &
John, 2023; Mukherjee & Yazaki, 2016). In particular, the developments of the
Indo-Japanese Indo-Pacific partnership (Horimoto, 2019; Jain, 2021; Joshi &
Pant, 2015; Mukherjee, 2018) and various dimensions of it include: defence and
security (Jaishankar, 2018; Keerthiraj & Sekiyama, 2023), infrastructure and con-
nectivity (Horimoto, 2021; Murayama et al., 2021; Panda, 2020), economic
(Choudhury, 2017; Pajon & Saint-Mezard, 2018), maritime security (Paul, 2019),
trilateral and multilateral relations (Basrur & Narayanankutty, 2022; Joshi, 2017;
Kliem, 2020; Miller, 2017), third-country partnership (John, 2023), and the limi-
tations of the partnership (Jain, 2021). Despite significant scholarly attention, the
evolutionary aspects of the India–Japan Indo-Pacific strategic ties have received
limited examination. To address this gap in the literature, this article presents an
evolutionary account of the India–Japan Indo-Pacific strategic partnership through
four phases: conception, actualisation, consolidation and resilience. Looking at
the partnership through the lens of evolutionary phases would help better under-
stand the interplay between ideological and structural factors, domestic politics,
and key personalities that have influenced its shaping.
India, Japan and Indo-Pacific: Evolution of the
Strategic Partnership
Despite promising early post-WWII ties, India–Japan relations stagnated amid
the Cold War geopolitics (Jain, 2008). For instance, after Japanese Prime Minister
Ikeda’s 1961 India visit, the next Prime Ministerial visit was in 1984. Similarly,
Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Japan in 1988 after a gap of 30 years
(Jain, 2023). Japan’s economic aid during India’s economic difficulty during the
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