Key takeaways
- India and Japan are integrating artificial intelligence into their defence strategies to enhance counter-intelligence capabilities.
- The collaboration aims to develop unmanned ground vehicles and robotics, reinforcing geopolitical ties between the two nations.
- Past tensions between India and Japan have eased, primarily in response to China's growing influence in the region.
- Japan seeks to foster positive relations with various South-Asian countries while promoting a 'free and open Indo-Pacific' policy.
- Infrastructure development and maritime law enforcement are key components of Japan's strategy for regional connectivity and security.
Indian and Japan are bringing in artificial intelligence into their arsenal as a measure of its counter-intelligent defense system. Kentauro Sonoura, minister of foreign affairs for Japan, said in a press release that Japan aims to collaborate with India to develop unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) and robotics. The move is also aimed at strengthening the geo-political ties between the two countries.
Although, there was initial rebuke between India and Japan, it seems to have been eased over the years, as to mainly counter China's strategic influence over India.
Sonoura emphasised on the fact that Japan planned to achieve cordial relations with all the South-Asian countries including Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh in 2018. He also said that Japan wanted to promote a "free and open Indo-Pacific" policy, highlighting the steps taken by them to curb terrorism through initiating a dialogue with Pakistan.
Speaking to a national newspaper, Sonoura said, “"We need to share the importance of rule of law and freedom of navigation among related countries. The next step is infrastructure development based on global standards, so that connectivity among countries is increased. The third step would be maritime law enforcement and disaster management that would ensure the stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. Therefore, we would like to connect and combine our Indo-Pacific strategy and India's Act East policy as a one big picture. That's the synergy we seek.”
This makes India enter into a new foray of technological innovations with Japan with its friendly relations going strong with the recent developments. In fact, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, had gone as far as to say that India was a part of its support towards infrastructural development and growth in the IT sector.
India, on the other hand, has been on the rise with developments in its Make In India policy. This agreement will certainly strengthen its outlook towards creating more jobs in the country. Furthermore, the economic gain achieved by India will reinforce its status as an aggressive developing country. The move to enter AI and robotics sector might seem like a good idea for establishing a political and technological stability for the country.
Contrastingly, there has been criticism from the opposition parties in India for choosing foreign companies over homegrown organisations for high value projects. 
