Tokyo, Delhi to deepen strategic ties as Japan PM Takaichi visits India

📌 Summary:

• Japan's PM Sanae Takaichi arrived in New Delhi on a three-day visit (her first since taking office last year), stating she intends to deepen strategic ties amid "growing uncertainty in the international situation"
• She will attend the 16th India-Japan Annual Summit — a mechanism established in 2006 under which the two PMs meet annually
• Overarching theme is economic security; the visit aims to boost investment and innovation and build resilient supply chains in semiconductors and critical minerals
• Three focus areas flagged by Takaichi: deepening the strategic partnership; economic-security cooperation; strengthening business-to-business investment and innovation
• Additional focus: maritime security and defence technology cooperation
• Strategic logic: Delhi and Tokyo share a strong convergence on a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), driven by mutual concern over China's growing assertiveness in the region
• Relationship framed as the "Special Strategic and Global Partnership"

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 (India's bilateral relations, groupings; Indo-Pacific strategy) — India-Japan cooperation on supply-chain resilience, critical minerals, semiconductors and maritime security as a counterweight to Chinese assertiveness.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• India-Japan Annual Summit mechanism established in 2006; this was the 16th edition
• Relationship title: "Special Strategic and Global Partnership"
• FOIP = Free and Open Indo-Pacific
• Focus sectors: semiconductors, critical minerals, defence technology, maritime security

🔑 Key Term: Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) — a vision (championed by Japan, India, US and partners) for a rules-based, open maritime order across the Indian and Pacific Oceans.