AJISS-Commentary
The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies
IIPS

RIPSInstitute for International

The Japan Institute ofResearch Institute for

Policy Studies

International Affairs

Peace and Security(Secretariat)

Editor:No. 169

Akio Watanabe

17 January 2013

Editorial Board:JAPAN SHOULD STRENGTHEN NAVALCOOPERATION WITH INDIA

Hideki Asari
Masashi Nishihara
Taizo Yakushiji

Online Publisher:
Yoshiji Nogami
President, JIIA

Hideaki Kaneda
India and the Indian Navy
India has the world’s second largest population of
more than 1.2 billion, comprising multiple ethnicgroups, religions, languages and cultures, and isthe world’s largest democratic country with anadministration elected through free and fairelections under a multi-party system. It shares agreat deal with major developed countries such as
Japan in terms of fundamental values and systems,
including liberalism, democracy and a market
economy, and it has significant influence in theSouth Asian region.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and should
not be attributed to The Association of Japanese Institutes ofStrategic Studies.

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The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

India enjoys a geographic position that is significant for maritime traffic,connecting the Asia-Pacific region with the Middle East and Europe, and it isexpected to play an important role in maritime security.
Given the uncertain regional security environment, India has pursued
military modernization. China and Pakistan present direct security concerns for
India. Specifically, the continuing enhancement of China’s military capabilities
remains

theprimary

newly-commissioned

influence

firstaircraftonIndia’scarrier

military

Liaoningbuild-up.

andotherChina’sbroader

modernization programs spur on Indian naval development. The potential forfriction between India and China is shown by recent developments concerning
maritime resources in the South China Sea. Moreover, India is significantlyconcerned by Chinese naval activities in the Indian Ocean.
The Indian navy is the largest and strongest in terms of quality andquantity in the Indian Ocean region with two fleets of about 160 warships,
including one aircraft carrier, 20 destroyers and frigates, one attack nuclear
submarine and 14 conventional submarines totaling approximately 420,000 tons,
as well as about 80 tactical naval aircraft and helicopters, all operated bywell-trained personnel with good seamanship and high morale. It is expanding
procurement of equipment from foreign countries as well as undertaking joint
development with them to modernize its weaponry, and has emerged as theworld’s largest arms importer. India plans to add one aircraft carrier (INSVicramaditya: ex-Russian Admiral Gorshkov), while it also plans to deploy one
domestic aircraft carrier in 2014. In July 2009, India’s first domestic nuclear
submarine (Arihant) was launched. The Indian navy has introduced USN P-8
ASW patrol aircraft and wishes to introduce some JMSDF US-2 rescue flyingboats.
Importance of the SLOCs
Needless to say, “the security of SLOCs (Sea Lines of Communications)” isimportant to the security and economy of the Indo-Pacific region. The regional
economy has developed with, and is largely dependent on, maritime
transportation using secured vital SLOCs. In particular, shipments of oil

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The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

resources indispensable for the existence and prosperity of regional countries
are largely dependent on the security of the wide-area SLOCs connecting theIndian Ocean, the Malacca-Singapore Strait, the South China Sea and the East
China Sea. Hence these SLOCs are literally the lifelines of the region.
The Malacca-Singapore Strait is in fact the “lifeline of Indo-Pacificcountries”, making it in a way the “Achilles’ tendon” of the world economy.
Annually about 50,000 ships, more than a quarter of the world’s maritime cargoshipping, and about one-half of the entire trade volume of the countries ofNortheast Asia pass through this Strait. Looking just at tanker shipments, about
50% of the world’s tankers and about 85% of the oil tankers that sail from theMiddle East to Northeast Asia pass through the Indian Ocean, theMalacca-Singapore Strait, the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
To ensure the security of the SLOCs through the Indo-Pacific region is,
in itself, certainly important but SLOCs do not end in one single region.
Inter-regional trade among the Asia-Pacific region, the Indian Ocean region, andthe Oceania region has continued to grow in recent years.
If there is any potential threat in these regions, it may be the possibility ofan aggressive maritime advance by China both inside and outside of its 1 st island
chain, including the South China Sea, the East China Sea and Indian Ocean, as
its naval capabilities continue to mount. Thus China’s activities will requirecontinued attention. In this regard, close maritime security cooperation to securevital SLOCs among key maritime powers in the region such as Japan, India,
Australia, certain ASEAN members and the United States will require a maritime
security coalition for ensuring the security of the SLOCs through the Indo-Pacificregion.

Japan-India Maritime Security Cooperation
Japan and India have a very long history of intimate exchange that has beenbolstered since 2000. For Japan-India security relations, the summit meeting
between Japan’s Prime Minister Abe and India’s Prime Minister Singh in August
2007 was an epoch-making event. They released a joint communiqué andhttp://www.jiia.or.jp/en/commentary3

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The Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies

agreed on the recognition that “a strong India is to Japan’s benefit, and a strong
Japan is to India’s benefit.”
Mr. Abe stated that Japan and India should address, in cooperation withother countries, measures to ensure the security of SLOCs as two major
maritime powers and democratic countries that share basic values and interests.
In his speech on “the exchange between two oceans” delivered at the Indianparliament, he reflected upon the long history of ties between Japan and India,
and opined that the newly emerging “expanded Asia” integrating East Asia andSouth Asia through exchange between the “two great oceans” (the Pacific
Ocean and the Indian Ocean) could grow into an open and transparent networkthat covers the entire Indo-Pacific region.
Since then, relations between Japan and India have gone forward
through annual summit talks, and the first Administrative Vice-Ministerial “2+2”Dialogue was held in July 2010 based on the Action Plan, as was the second
Subcabinet Defense Policy Dialogue. In June 2012, the first joint naval exercise
was carried out between the Indian navy and the JMSDF in Sagami Bay inaccordance with the Joint Statement by Prime Ministers Singh and Noda in
December 2011.
The 2011 Joint Statement also stressed the need to undertake
Japan-India-US trilateral security coordination to deepen the Trilateral Strategic
Global Partnership among the three countries. As we have seen, trilateral
cooperation among Japan, India and the US has been gradually and steadily
developing.
I sincerely expect the new Abe administration to strengthen maritime
security cooperation with India as well as with the US.

Hideaki Kaneda is a retired Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Vice Admiral.
He is currently a director of the Okazaki Institute and an adjunct fellow atJIIA.

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