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Conference on India-Japan Cooperation in Indo-Pacific and Beyond 2025: Corridors, Connectivity and Contours | December 07, 2018 | 0930 to 1800 hrs | Conference |
Venue: Auditorium, IDSA Concept NoteFocus of the ConferenceThis conference aims to examine the scope and potential of India-Japan cooperation in key infrastructural connectivity and corridors projects, which will have a lasting strategic impact in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond by the year 2025. It will examine the bilateral, trilateral and multilateral undertakings of India-Japan cooperation. The ContextA striking feature of India-Japan relations is their co-envisioned “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific region. Under their “Special Strategic and Global Partnership”, the two countries outlined “Vision 2025” on 12 December 2015. The major characteristic of this vision was to enhance a “deep, broad-based and action-oriented” partnership within a global framework while investing in India-Japan future-oriented partnership with a demand for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Japan in November 2016 and October 2018 and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to India in September 2017 further endorsed this pledge. What does this “free, open and prosperous” Indo-Pacific mean in context of India-Japan special and global relations? A number of bilateral understandings and agreements, from economic to political to strategic, have been the crucial pillars of India-Japan relations that have started complementing Vision 2025 in Indo-Pacific, especially their pledge to develop quality infrastructure across the region. Regionally and globally, an enhanced understanding is currently unfolding between the two countries to strengthen a rule-based international order with focus on people-to-people contacts, connectivity and plan to develop corridors while reinforcing their bilateral security and defence cooperation. Pledging a “partnership for prosperity”, the two countries intend to establish a stronger regional and global partnership through collaborative connectivity and corridor projects. Their common pledge to have a “partnership for prosperity” is however not free from challenges. China’s emergence as a stronger power, its unilateral infrastructural initiatives in the Indo-Pacific region, especially Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), come as a challenge to India’s and Japan’s strategic interests in the region. Donald Trump’s bilateral-oriented approach towards Asia under an “America First” approach and, notably, the United States’ withdrawal from multilateral trade negotiation contacts have posed a number of challenges for the countries in the region. Though struggling for a conclusion currently, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiation process promises to change the economic fortunes of the Indo-Pacific region with emphasis on free trade and serious economic collaboration. Smaller actors are increasingly aiming to play a critical role through trilateral and multilateral chain of contacts and configurations. Taking these developments into account, a number of strategic contours, bilaterally and regionally, impact and influence the India-Japan future relationship. This conference aims to review and evaluate India-Japan relationship in the current and future contexts with focus on their future-oriented partnership, mainly beyond the Vision 2025. This conference will not only review, scrutinize and analyse their ongoing cooperative partnerships in key connectivity and corridors projects but foresee the scope of this cooperation beyond 2025. Structure of the ConferenceThe conference will have four sessions. Each session will have three presenters. Session I: Connectivity and Corridors: The Foreign Policy Context This session will focus on how infrastructural connectivity and corridors constitute the principal foreign policy contours of the major actors in Indo-Pacific. It will focus on Indian, Japanese, Chinese and American foreign policy focus on infrastructural connectivity and corridors initiatives in Indo-Pacific. It will analyse the following questions: How do the Indian, Japanese, Chinese and the American foreign policy trajectories point to their cooperative and contending perspectives on infrastructural connectivity and corridors projects in Indo-Pacific/Asia-Pacific? How can India-Japan cooperation in the areas of connectivity and corridors be strengthened by 2025 and beyond? Session II: Financing Projects and Policies: The Economic Context This session will analyse key energy connectivity and corridors projects in Indo-Pacific and their financing patterns. In particular, it will examine how key institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructural Development Bank (AIIB) and other global institutions will finance key corridors and connectivity projects, including energy projects, in Indo-Pacific. It will analyse the following questions: How is the ADB enhancing key infrastructure projects in the Indo-Pacific? How is the AIIB shaping the infrastructure connectivity and corridors projects? How is India-Japan Indo-Pacific infrastructural vision complemented or contended by these financing institutions? How will RCEP impact the future of Indo-Pacific infrastructure? Session III: Maritime Ports and Military Projections: The Security Context Session IV: Interests, Investments and Infrastructure: The Bilateral Context This session will analyse the scope of India-Japan economic cooperation, in terms of their strategic interests and infrastructural investments. It will assess how India’s and Japan’s economic growth trajectory will shape their Indo-Pacific vision beyond 2025 in contrast to China’s emergence as an economic power house in the region. It will address the following questions: What would be the economic growth trajectory of India, Japan and China in 2025 and beyond? What would be the prospects of India-Japan, India-China and China-Japan economic contacts over the next decade or so? How will it impact the prospects of Indo-Pacific? Scope of the ConferenceThis conference is being co-organized by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and the Japan Foundation in New Delhi. Its scope is purely bilateral, involving Indian and Japanese subject experts and policy analysts. A number of experts from Japan will participate and present their paper. On the Indian side, experts from IDSA and mainstream think-tanks and universities will participate. Date and Venue Paper Presentation and Outcome |
East Asia | India-Japan Relations | |||
Interaction with Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney, China Aerospace Studies Institute, Air University, Washington DC | November 14, 2018 | 1630 hrs | Other |
Topic: China's Air Power in 21st Century: Implications for India and the Region Speaker: Dr. Brendan S. Mulvaney, Director, China Aerospace Studies Institute of Air University in Washington DC Chair: Maj. Gen. Alok Deb (Retd.), Deputy Director General IDSA Venue: Board Room, IDSA |
East Asia | ||||
Talk on 'Information Manipulation: A challenge for our Democracies' | October 30, 2018 | 1030 hrs | Talk |
Speaker: Dr. Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer, Director, Institut de Recherche Stratégique de l'Ecole Militaire (IRSEM) Venue: IDSA Boardroom # 104 (First Floor) |
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Interaction with the Stimson Centre Scholars, Washington DC | October 24, 2018 | 1130 hrs | Round Table |
Topic: India-China Relations, Security developments in South Asia and Indo-Pacific Venue: Board Room, IDSA Chair: Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Alok Deb, DDG, IDSA Delegation Head: |
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Interactive Session with US Officials | October 22, 2018 | 1130 hrs | Talk |
Venue: Boardroom # 104, First Floor Short Bio: David O. Smith is formerly the Senior Defense Intelligence Officer for Pakistan in the Defense Intelligence Agency. Previously he was the Senior Country Director for Pakistan in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Policy). A career Army officer, he retired in 2003 after 34 years of military and government service. His last military assignment was a three-year tour of duty as Army Attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, his second assignment in that capacity. As an Army Foreign Area Officer, he spent 22 years dealing with politico-military issues in the Near East and South Asia. Other military assignments included duty in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army (International Affairs) as Director of Army Foreign Liaison; Senior Military Fellow in the Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University; Division Chief for Latin America and Africa, Defense Security Assistance Agency; and command of a field artillery battalion. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Armed Force Staff College, and the Pakistan Army Command and Staff College. Jason Portner is a Policy Analyst in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Nonproliferation and Arms Control. He develops and oversees programs relating to nuclear confidence building measures and the promotion of regional nuclear stability. Mr. Portner has worked at the Department of Energy’s Beijing Office and in the nonprofit sector on nuclear safety issues in China. He is a graduate of Northeastern University and earned his Master of Arts degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. |
Military Affairs | ||||
Round Table Discussion on South Asian Regional Developments | October 24, 2018 | 0930 hrs | Round Table |
Subject: South Asian Regional Developments Venue: Boardroom # 104, First Floor, IDSA Chair: Maj Gen Alok Deb (Retd), Deputy Director General, IDSA Delegation: |
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Round Table discussion with Admiral Jayanath Colombage, Former Chief of Naval Staff of Sri Lanka Navy | October 31, 2018 | 1000 hrs | Round Table |
Subject: Contemporary Maritime Scene in the Indian Ocean and Sri Lanka's Perceptions Speaker: Admiral Jayanath Colombage, Former Chief of Naval Staff of Sri Lanka Navy Venue: Board Room, IDSA |
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Interaction with the Heritage Foundation Delegation | October 16, 2018 | 1000 hrs | Other |
Topic: China and shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific Head of the Delegation: Mr Walter Lohman, Director, Asian Studies at Heritage Chair: Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Alok Deb, DDG, IDSA Venue: Boardroom Other Delegation Members Thomas Callendar, Senior Research Fellow for Defense Programs (Naval specialist) John JV Venable, Senior Research Fellow For Defense Policy (Air Force specialist) Jeff M. Smith, Research Fellow, South Asia |
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Talk on "The Tribal Dynamics of Helmand Province, Afghanistan” | September 26, 2018 | 1500 hrs | Talk |
Speaker: Captain Philip Reid Topic: The Tribal Dynamics of Helmand Province, Afghanistan Venue: Boardroom # 104, First Floor |
Eurasia & West Asia | ||||
Discussion with High Level Delegation from Republic of Uzbekistan | September 27, 2018 | 1430 hrs | Round Table |
Delegation led by Mr Akmal Burkhanov, Director, Development Strategy Center, MP, Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis (Parliament) of Republic of Uzbekistan Venue: Room No. 005, Ground Floor |
Eurasia & West Asia |