By Yang Jun, Fang Qing, Hu Bofeng, Gu Jindong
Japanese Defense Ministry announced on January 16 that the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and Indian Air Force will carry out their first joint fighter jet exercise from January 16 to 26, the latest move by the two countries to strengthen defense cooperation in face of China’s growing military strength in the Indo-Pacific region, media reported.
A continuation of Abe’s defense position
During the “two plus two” meeting among foreign ministers and defense ministers in November 2019, Japan and India agreed to hold joint fighter jet drill, but this had been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sources from the Indian government said as the Indian troops are mostly equipped with Soviet weapons, which Japan thinks have much in common with the weapons currently used by China and Russia, it hopes to learn more about their maneuvering capability, cruising range, maintenance cycle, and other performance features through India.
Lyu Yaodong, deputy head of the Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said on January 16 that the Japan-India cooperation has expanded from the economic level to military and security levels with a growing number of items, and this development of bilateral relations is in step with the development of US-Japan-India-Australia relations. The idea of intensifying such military and security cooperation could date back to the time of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who practiced “value-based diplomacy”, a principle that has been picked up and carried on by Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida. The joint air exercise between Japan and India will add to factors of instability and uncertainty in the region.
Japan bent on going its own way
The exercise is seen as a counterbalance to Beijing’s growing confidence in the Indo-Pacific region, reported Bloomberg on January 16. That the exercise came as Kishida wrapped up his visit to France, Italy, Britain, Canada and the US indicated Tokyo’s wish to curb China through intensified alliance.
Hindustan Times commented that although the Indian authorities never explicitly mentioned such phrases as “China threat”, the Indian media generally took Beijing’s mounting clout in the Indian Ocean as the background of the air exercise, believing that New Delhi and Tokyo were huddling up to deal with their strategic anxiety about China.
Against the backdrop of the China-India tension in recent years, Japan has a mind to cozy up to India that also sees China as a rival. In addition to hyping up the “China threat theory”, now it has put forth the so-called “regional threat theory” and turned its back on the four political documents and the four-principle consensus reached with China, said Lyu Yaodong. Japan also attempts to spur New Delhi on as the latter is relatively less enthusiastic about the Quad. These obsessed actions are taken at the price of regional peace and stability and go counter to the path of peaceful development it has claimed to take.
The exercise more symbolic than substantial
Wang Ping, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, noted that Japan has all along pushed the military and diplomatic cooperation with Asian-Pacific countries, but with few outcomes. The current diplomatic endeavors made by Fumio Kishida, or in other words his substantive diplomatic strategy, come with immense risks. His attempt to go beyond the original military and diplomatic arrangements within the US-Japan alliance is unstable, unbalanced and unsustainable.
Although India views China as a rival, it hasn’t made up its mind to totally side with Japan yet because of its cooperation with Russia. The Japan-India security cooperation is more symbolic than substantial, commented Wang.
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
