SINGAPORE: India and Japan on Thursday expressed "determination to pursue cooperation" in the defence and security domain to promote "stability and prosperity in Asia and in the world at large."

Describing themselves as "partners in peace," the two countries identified "mechanisms" for such cooperation.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Japanese Minister of State for Defence Fukushiro Nukaga, who held talks in Tokyo earlier in the day, issued a joint statement, outlining the political ambience and parameters of such cooperation.

The document is in tune with the decision made by the Prime Ministers of the two countries in April last to "reinforce the strategic focus of the global partnership between India and Japan."

The centrepieces of the cooperative "mechanisms" are the "holding of a defence policy dialogue from time to time" and the "holding of regular comprehensive security dialogue and military-to-military talks."

At the political level, the Defence Ministers will also meet at "regular intervals." The political "foundation" of the bilateral partnership, now agreed upon, has been traced to the "commitment" of the two countries to "democratic values, human rights, pluralism, open society and the rule of law."

Significantly, the "proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," an issue Japan cited to impose economic sanctions on India following its nuclear tests in 1998, is now seen by both as their common "challenge" in the "emerging security environment in Asia and at the global level."

Maritime traffic

Some of the shared "objectives" to meet the many challenges across the new security landscape in Asia and beyond have been spelt out.

These include the "countering of terrorism and extremism" as also the principle of "contributing to the safety and stability of regional maritime traffic," besides the promotion of international cooperation for disaster management.

The key "mechanisms" of cooperation include the "holding of goodwill exercises between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force."

The idea is to graduate to "future possible exercises in areas of mutual interest," and these will be of a "progressively advanced nature." Regular exchange of visits at the highest echelons of the military services, ship visits, exchange of student officers and mutual invitations to "witness designated military activities" are cited as the other "mechanisms."

Though the navies of India and Japan joined those of the United States and Australia to form a "core group" after the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, there is nothing in the joint statement to indicate the extension of such four-party cooperation to other areas of military interest. The statement makes no reference to the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, though Japan is an active participant.

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