India-Japan ties to go beyond the handshake

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will be in India on Wednesday for the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit. This marks Takaichi's first visit as prime minister, and arguably her most consequential, with her bet on India travelling through to the north east.

In an op-ed for the Times of India, Takaichi invoked Swami Vivekananda and former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe's old formula - "a strong India is good for Japan, and a strong Japan is good for India" - to frame what's really an economic-security pact wearing cultural clothing.

She also tied Japan's updated free and open Indo-Pacific vision directly to India's Mahasagar doctrine, and the Northeast is where that alignment gets concrete. The Japan-funded Dhubri-Phulbari bridge, Matarbari port in Bangladesh, and an "industrial value chain" stretching from Assam through Bangladesh to ASEAN.

Tokyo isn't just building infrastructure - it's building an alternate corridor that bypasses Chinese chokepoints entirely.

The numbers explain the urgency.

Japan is India's fifth-largest investor, with cumulative FDI at $48 billion, and a 10-trillion-yen private investment target set for the next decade.

Around 1,500 Japanese firms operate in India, many relocating out of a China-facing regulatory and geopolitical friction, reinforced this week by joint Chinese-Russian bomber patrols over the Sea of Japan that forced Tokyo and Seoul to scramble jets.

Expect movement on semiconductors, critical minerals, AI, and defence tech.

That will build on last year's joint declaration on security cooperation and drills like Malabar and Dharma Guardian.

The signal is clear: with Beijing squeezing on one side and Washington's trade unpredictability on the other, Japan is betting big on India. And the Northeast, quietly, is becoming the physical spine of that bet.

Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy

A coalition of nations, most notably Japan, the United States, India, and Australia, support the strategic geopolitical and economic framework known as the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). In order to maintain the Indo-Pacific's accessibility and prosperity, it supports free commerce, freedom of navigation, regional stability, and the rule of law.

The three primary goals of the FOIP framework are to guarantee regional peace and prosperity:

Rule of Law and Freedom of Navigation are the main goals. That is to ensure international maritime rules allow all countries to sail and trade without coercion or territorial claims impeding peaceful movement.

Promoting connectivity, free trade agreements, and investments in high-quality infrastructure are all ways to achieve economic prosperity.

This frequently acts as a straightforward substitute framework for other regional megaprojects.

Peace and stability include addressing marine threats, strengthening law enforcement capabilities, and enhancing responses to natural catastrophes and humanitarian crises.

So, Takaichi's India visit brings with it a broader economic and strategic partnership plan.