Japan PM Takaichi visits India amid slipping domestic support

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrived in India this week for a three-day visit, holding talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Thursday. The South China Morning Post reports that economic security, strategic cooperation and collaboration on innovative technologies were high on the agenda. Analysts told SCMP the overarching aim of the trip is to shore up a coalition of nations concerned about China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, while also handing Takaichi an 'easy win' as her domestic support slips because of economic hardships many ordinary Japanese are experiencing.

The SCMP report quotes Ben Ascione, an assistant professor at Waseda University, saying Takaichi wants to 'accelerate Japan's security transition and show that India is an important part of that.' The report adds that the thinking behind Tokyo's 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific' diplomatic campaign is to move beyond Asia-Pacific regionalism by drawing India more firmly into alignment as a counterweight to China. Ascione questioned whether and to what extent India will share those same views.

Meanwhile, RNZ reported on Indian foreign policy analyst Dhruva Jaishankar's views on India's widening Pacific ambitions. Jaishankar, executive director of the US arm of the Observer Research Foundation, said India's idea is to have security partnerships around the world to mitigate future security threats. He noted India has a growing community worldwide and joint counterterrorism mechanisms can help governments work together more seamlessly on future challenges. Jaishankar also pushed back on the notion that India's trade deal with New Zealand was solely a geopolitical statement, saying economics and strategy are 'very tied together' in a disorderly world with US-China competition.