INTERVIEW: Ex-Indian Foreign Policy Adviser Sees Japan, India Share Goals

New Delhi, June 29 (Jiji Press)–Japan and India share key principles and goals in promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific, Ashok Kumar Chawla, a former adviser on Japan at India’s External Affairs Ministry, said in an interview. India has rolled out a maritime vision, Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions, or MAHASAGAR, Chawla said. He said that Japan, for its part, values the rule of law and freedom of navigation based on the FOIP concept and has strengthened economic security and human resources development in recent years. MAHASAGAR and FOIP are complementary to each other as the overlap between them is expanding, he said, adding that the two concepts have been converging while developing independently. He said both Japan and India remain highly dependent on the Middle East for energy supply and that the stability of sea lanes, including the Strait of Hormuz, is in the vital national interest of the two countries. The crisis in the strait shows once again that FOIP is not an abstract idea but a challenge directly linked to the economy and people’s lives in Japan and India, Chawla said. He said that the potential for defense cooperation between Japan and India is significant now that Tokyo has lifted its ban on arms exports in principle. Japan’s planned exports of the UNICORN integrated stealth antenna system for warships are an important test, he said. Asked about a trip to India by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi this week for a summit with her Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, Chawla said he hopes that the two leaders will present a specific operational mechanism for economic security cooperation in areas including supply chains, semiconductors and critical minerals. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]