New Delhi
5 March 2007
India and Japan would raise their strategic partnership to a higher
level by holding joint military exercises. "[It will be a] very large exercise," Japan
Ambassador to India Yasukuni Enoki said in an interview to this newspaper.
India and Japan have held joint Coast Guard series of maritime search and rescue and
anti-piracy exercises since 2000 but this is the first time their navies will participate in a
joint exercise.
The envoy did not specify how soon the exercises would be held but he hinted that the
United States could take part in the exercises. The US participation is expected to give a
push to the nascent India-Japan-US trilateral cooperation.
"Asia is huge enough [for] allowing every variety of dialogue mechanisms," he insisted.
According to certain reports in the Japanese media, the India-Japan-US joint military
exercises could be held as early as April.
"Maritime security of Indian Ocean and security of the line of communication, particularly
with oil ... crude oil transport, is very much common interest, area of common interest for
every Asian countries," Ambassador Enoki told this newspaper on Monday.
"It is quite new, for example, to hold friendship joint exercise, between Japanese vital
defence vessels on their way back from the Arabian Sea. As you know, Japan is now
deploying some vessels for the logistical purposes to other countries such as the United
States and the UK for their peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan," he said in response
to a question on the India-Japan maritime cooperation.
He explained that there was ample scope for India and Japan to collaborate in securing
the sea lanes. "Japan is still under the Constitutional constraint, there is a very clear
limit for Japan to exercise, to play a meaningful military role in this region. But there are
many rooms, even under the constraint ... Constitutional constraint, for both India and
Japan to work together." India and Japan, he added, could also play "a big role" in
cooperation for tsunami and natural disasters.
Ambassador Enoki said that Japan took its strategic partnership with India seriously.
"During the visit of Dr Manmohan Singh we agreed so many things, one is that fixing
strategic and global partnership and though India is rather very frequently or popularly
using strategic partnership with countries but Japan is using strategic partnership rather
restrictected way." He said that there was a "new paradigm" in India-Japan relations.
"This is the beginning of golden age," he said.
On the proposed India-Japan-US trilateral cooperation, the envoy said, "We have very
good achievement of trilateral dialogue ... the second track, not government-to-
government but among think tanks ... and starting from second track perhaps we can
proceed to next [level of] government to government. And this is by no means exclusive
dialogue and Asia is huge enough allowing every variety of dialgue mechanisms.
Russia-India-China is one and why not Japan-India-US?"
Mr Enoki said that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he wants to develop
closer ties with India and it was his "idea" to propose turning of the Japan-India-US
trilateral cooperation into a quadrilateral one with Australia. "I have been following the
idea very consistently since my arrival here [of a] tripartite dialogue [among] Japan-
China-India and up to this stage this is not yet mature, perhaps the preconditions to
putting this idea into reality [are] not yet ready but in the long run, there is no doubt that
these three major states should be responsible for prosperity and stability of entire
Asia," he said.
The manoeuvres, to be held for about a week in the Pacific Ocean near Japan, will
mainly involve rescue operations and code-breaking. Japan's navy will deploy
destroyers and surveillance helicopters. The drill is likely to focus on safety measures
to be taken in the event of a major natural disaster in the Pacific such as a tsunami.
Japanese naval escort vessels and maritime patrol helicopters are expected to
participate in the drill.
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