Three key developments unfolded in Japan in August 2018: the Ministry of Defence (MOD) released its annual Defence White Paper; requested a 2.1 per cent increase in the 2019 budget; and instituted an Exploratory Committee on the Future of Self Defence Forces (SDF) with the objective of reviewing the current National Defence Program Guidelines (NDPG) and the Mid-Term Defence Program (MTDP). Analysing these developments in the backdrop of Prime Minister Abe’s top priorities—managing the United States (US)-Japan alliance under the Trump Presidency and delivering on the ‘great responsibility’ of redefining Japanese post-war security orientation—unpacks Tokyo’s key challenges. These are, essentially, balancing between sharing greater burden within the alliance framework to ensure regional security on one hand, and weighing regional sensitivities and deeply fractured domestic constituencies on the other.
Associate Fellow, IDSA, Dr Titli Basu’s research article, ‘India-Japan Vision 2025: Deciphering the Indo-Pacific Strategy’ has been published in Indian Foreign Affairs Journal Vol. 13, No. 3, July-September, 2018.
While broad agreement at the top leadership level has been easy to achieve, negotiations relating to defence equipment and technology cooperation have proved to be difficult, shaped as these are by a complex interplay of variables like cost-competitiveness, technology transfer and domestic politics.
Associate Fellow, IDSA, Dr Titli Basu’s article on India-Japan Relations, titled ‘India-Japan Relations in the Age of Indo-Pacific’ has been published in The Contemporary India Forum Quarterly Review No 38.
The summit brought out ambiguities in America’s policy towards denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula. To translate outcomes of the summit into concrete deliverables, Trump administration would not only have to clearly define its denuclearisation action plan in terms of goals, methodology and timeline but also bolster its alliance with South Korea and Japan.
This book analyses the competing power politics that exists between the three major Asian powers - China, India, and Japan - on infrastructural development across the Indo-Pacific. It examines the competing policies and perspectives of these Asian powers on infrastructure development initiatives and explores the commonalities and contradictions between them that shape their ideas and interests. In brief, the volume looks into the strategic contention that exists between China's "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI; earlier officially known as "One Belt, One Road" - OBOR) and Japan's "Expanded Partnership for Quality Infrastructure" (PQI) and initiatives like the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) and position India's geostrategic and geo-economic interests in between these two competing powers and their mammoth infrastructural initiatives.
Associate Fellow, IDSA, Dr Titli Basu’s article on Japan’s support to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), titled ‘Japan’s Belt and Road Puzzle Decoded’ was published in ‘The Diplomat’ on February 28, 2018.
The article argues that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is involved in a carefully considered attempt to discard a narrow approach — pursued in the case of the AIIB — and engage with China with the objective of shaping it as a responsible actor and upholding the highest standards of global governance in accordance with international norms.
The India-Japan ‘action-oriented partnership’ is founded on the pillars of mutuality of interests, shared universal values and commonality of vision in the Indo-Pacific.
Associate Fellow, IDSA, Dr Titli Basu’s article on Japan’s defence stand, titled ‘Kim Jong-un's Crazy Summer: A Litmus Test for Japan’ was published by ‘The Diplomat’ on September 2, 2017.
A Review of India-Japan Defence Technology Cooperation
While broad agreement at the top leadership level has been easy to achieve, negotiations relating to defence equipment and technology cooperation have proved to be difficult, shaped as these are by a complex interplay of variables like cost-competitiveness, technology transfer and domestic politics.