Japan PM Fumio Kishida to announce new Indo-Pacific plan in India
1 min read 20 Mar 2023, 02:10 PM ISTFumio Kishida held delegation-level talks with Modi to deepen cooperation between Tokyo and New Delhi, while also addressing food security and development financing.
PremiumJapan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for the Group of Seven major industrial nations summit in May and was later expected to announce a new plan for a free and open Indo-Pacific aimed at countering China's growing influence in the region.
On his two-day trip to India, Fumio Kishida said PM Narendra Modi accepted his invitation to participate in the G-7 summit, which will be held in Japan’s western city of Hiroshima.
Kishida said that he will present his new action plan for Japan’s free and open Indo-Pacific vision, a Tokyo-led initiative aimed at curbing China’s growing assertiveness in the region, during his India visit. The plan is expected to include Japan’s support for human development in maritime security, a provision of coast guard patrol boats and equipment and other infrastructure cooperation.
Kishida held delegation-level talks with Modi to deepen cooperation between Tokyo and New Delhi, while also addressing food security and development financing.
Kishida said the aim of his visit would be to further deepen the "special strategic and global partnership" between the two countries.
"This year, Japan holds the presidency of the G7, while India chairs the G20. I intend to engage in a thoroughgoing exchange of views with Prime Minister Modi on the question of what role Japan and India should play within the international community," he said.
"Alongside that, with regard to bilateral Japan-India relations, I want to confirm the further deepening of the special strategic and global partnership between India and Japan," Kishida said.
"I will also deliver an address in India on a new plan for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. I will clearly lay out my thinking regarding the role that a Free and Open Indo-Pacific will play at this historic turning point," he added.
The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military assertiveness is also likely to figure in wide-ranging talks between Modi and Kishida.
