Japan provides India with economic, political and diplomatic interactions that New Delhi cannot replicate elsewhere. Japanese economic assistance is special in that it can undertake projects of enormous scope and scale in the Indian economy—offering a competitive and often preferred alternative to Chinese bids on critical Indian infrastructure projects. As a technologically advanced industrial nation with an established defense industry, and one now enabled to export weapons platforms and technologies abroad due to a historic political evolution, Japan can help India advance its national military and defense capabilities.

The Indo-Japanese strategic and defense relationship exhibits the most regional potential toward growing enhanced capacity and capability in support of long-term and enduring U.S. economic, humanitarian and security objectives. While the India-Japan strategic partnership will not supplant Washington’s vital regional role for the foreseeable future, it can become a vital complement for Washington’s near-term regional security commitments. In time, this bilateral strategic relationship might prove even more capable in support of historic American security interests in the Indo-Pacific Region. The United States has good reason to do all it can to nurture and support its growth.

Thomas F. Lynch III is the distinguished research fellow for South Asia and the Near East at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at National Defense University. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and are not an official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. government.

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