India and Japan: Exploring Strategic Potentials

The strategic environment of the world, particularly in Asia, is in a state of dramatic flux. The overwhelming economic and military presence of the United States in Asia is on the wane. China is a rising power, both economically and militarily, and its power projection capabilities are causing concern amongst its neighbours. Though the United States is a declining power, China is not the logical successor, not at least in the near term. These developments have led to realignment of power equations between countries in Asia. In this unfolding strategic landscape, India and Japan, two important players in Asia, are exploring the strategic dimension of their relationships. While growth momentum in the economic domain is not at the desired level, the institutional political structure provides the platform for honing the potentials to their mutual benefits. As a result, a great deal of commonalities is now visible in strengthening bilateral ties in political, economic and security fields. The present paper makes an attempt to evaluate and examine this dimension of the bilateral relationship and the economic dimension that compliments this. The author argues that the developments in the bilateral relations in all fronts suggest that in the coming decade, India-Japan bilateral ties will play critical role in stabilizing the emergence of the new Asian order, in which India, Japan and China can be responsible stakeholders.