New Delhi: The second India-Japan-South Korea (IJK) Trilateral Dialogue was held from November 28-29, 2013 at the Tokyo Foundation, Tokyo, Japan. Policy experts and scholars from India, Japan and South Korea participated in this event. Director General of Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses (IDSA), Dr Arvind Gupta, led the Indian delegation comprising Amb H.K. Singh, ICRIER, Dr RN Das and Dr Jagannath Panda from IDSA.
The South Korean side was led by Amb Jae-Hyun Park, Director General, Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA) whereas the Japanese side was led by Mr Masahiro Akiyama, President and Lt Gen (Retd) Noboru Yamaguchi of the Tokyo Foundation.
The Three premier think tanks - IDSA from India, KNDA from South Korea and Tokyo Foundation from Japan - are involved in this Trilateral TRACK-II interaction. The first interaction of this trilateral dialogue was held at IDSA, New Delhi in June 2012.
Mr Masahiro Akiyama, President of the Tokyo Foundation, Japan, delivered the opening remarks in this second trilateral event and pointed out the strategic significance of India-Japan-South Korea trilateral meeting. The highlight of this event was the first session where the focus of discussion was on the strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific region. Presenting the Indian perspective, Amb H.K. Singh from ICRIER spoke about the significance of the Indo-pacific region, highlighting the current developments in the region. The second session covered new and prospective areas of cooperation among the three countries. The future prospects and challenges of trilateral cooperation were discussed in the third session. Stressing over the need and significance of India-Japan-South Korea trilateral understanding, Dr Arvind Gupta pointed out that there are a range of traditional and non-traditional security issues and areas where the three countries can enhance their strategic cooperation. Dr Gupta also stressed upon raising understanding among three countries at different levels: political, security, diplomatic and societal. Overall, this trilateral event discussed key security issues like maritime politics in East Asia and Indian Ocean, non-traditional security threats, regional politics covering China, North Korea, and Afghanistan etc.
The timing of this second trilateral event was significant for two reasons: first, because of the new controversy that has occurred between China and Japan over the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). China recently declared an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over East China Sea, which Japan claims to be a Japanese controlled territory and overlaps Japan’s zone. Second, the emperor of Japan, Akihito’s ongoing visit to India has generated much excitement in both Delhi and Tokyo, to which India and Japan seem positive and firm to promote and enhance their bilateral understanding. The second day of this trilateral dialogue was held as a Tokyo Foundation Forum that was open to the general public. While Dr Arvind Gupta and Amb. Jae-Hyun Park represented the Indian and South Korean side respectively; Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Yamaguchi represented the Japanese side in this discussion. Dr Tsuneo Watanabe of the Tokyo Foundation moderated this forum. All the three speakers spoke about the rationale behind this trilateral dialogue and talked about how the three countries - India, Japan and South Korea- strongly represent the needs, aspirations and interests of Asia.
The next round of this trilateral dialogue is expected to be held in Seoul in 2014. IDSA has been quite active in promoting this trilateral dialogue programme and the first round of this trilateral dialogue was held at IDSA with the support of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of Govt of India. The Japanese and the South Korean government have also supported their respective think tanks for this event.
Asia’s Aspirations and Interests Discussed at India-Japan-South Korea Trilateral Dialogue