India and Japan deepen military engagements

New Delhi: In the last few weeks, India and Japan have intensified military-diplomatic engagements, with 7th Army-to-Army Staff Talks taking place in Delhi even as Exercise Dharma Guardian is underway in Japan. The 7th Army-to-Army talks took place in Delhi from 6-7th March with focus on “annual defence cooperation plans, military education, domain expert exchanges, exploring collaboration in niche technologies, and operational training”, said an Army statement. The Japanese side was also briefed on the Indian Army’s United Nations peacekeeping operations. Additionally, the Japanese delegation held talks with India’s premier military thinktank, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).

Meanwhile, the annual joint military exercises between the Indian Army and Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF), Dharma Guardian, have been underway in Japan’s East Fuji Training Area since February 24th and will conclude on Sunday. Started in 2018, the exercises aim to enhance interoperability, foster military cooperation, and strengthen the bilateral defence relationship between India and Japan. The primary goal is to improve combined capabilities for joint operations, with a focus on counter-terrorism, peacekeeping under a United Nations mandate, and operations in semi-urban or jungle environments.

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The exercises alternate between the 2 countries, and the current edition is the 6th edition. An Army statement said, “The primary focus of this year’s exercise is counter-terrorism operations in urban terrain, a critical area of focus in the current security environment.”

The Army exercises also have key cultural and traditional aspects, including yoga sessions and demonstration of Japanese archery. Dharma Guardian complements other India-Japan military engagements, such as the JIMEX (naval exercise) and Veer Guardian (air force exercise), forming a comprehensive framework of defence cooperation.

The foundation of India-Japan defence ties was significantly bolstered in 2015 when New Delhi and Tokyo inked two pivotal accords: the Agreement concerning the Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology Cooperation and the Agreement concerning Security Measures for the Protection of Classified Military Information. These pacts opened the door to collaboration on sensitive military technology and intelligence sharing.

Building on this momentum, the two nations took their naval cooperation to new depths in 2018 with the Implementing Arrangement for Deeper Cooperation between the Indian Navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF).

The partnership reached another milestone in 2020 with the Agreement concerning Reciprocal Provision of Supplies and Services between the Self-Defence Forces of Japan and the Indian Armed Forces. This logistics pact, often likened to the U.S.-India LEMOA (Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement), allows each nation’s military to access the other’s bases for refuelling, maintenance, and supplies.

Neither Tokyo nor New Delhi frames the collaboration as a direct challenge to Beijing, preferring the language of conversation on Indo-Pacific, but China naturally remains the “dragon” in the room. In the last few months, ties have leaned towards cautious improvement between China and India and China and Japan, which comes amid the unpredictability injected in global order by the Donald Trump administration in the US.

Indian PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the BRICS Kazan summit, a meeting that came after almost half a decade, and the first since the Galwan incident, thereby starting the normalisation process, which includes the resumption of the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra, and trading at border posts, among other measures. Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi and Japanese PM Shigeru met in November of 2024, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi visited China to meet FM Wang Yi in December 2024.