New Delhi: Japan plans to allow exports of deadly military equipment, including missiles and jets, to India and 11 other countries, a step that can increase efforts by New Delhi and Tokyo to work together in making defense.The regulations will be abused in March next year to allow exports to India, Australia and several Asian and Southeast Asian countries, according to a report by Nikkei. Japan established the principle for the transfer of defense equipment and relieve regulations that prohibit their exports in 2014. However, it still prohibits exports of deadly weapons.
Development came a few days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese colleague Fumio Kishida agreed to improve bilateral security and defense cooperation, including in making defense, during a meeting at the outskirts of the Quad Leader in Tokyo on Tuesday.India is one of several countries with which Japan has signed the main agreement to provide inventory and reciprocal services between their defense forces to encourage closer military cooperation and contribute to security in Indo-Pacific. The acquisition agreement and cross service (ACSA) between Japanese martial arts and the Indian military signed in September 2020.
The Japanese government also aims to “increase prevention of China in collaboration with countries that have signed an individual security agreement with Tokyo,” Nikkei’s report said. These countries include Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, US, Britain, Germany, France and Italy.According to the 2014 principle, defense exports to countries that are not jointly developing weapons with Japan are limited to equipment for rescue, transportation, warning, supervision, and mission mission. The new rules regarding defense exports will be part of the Japanese government’s policy on economic and fiscal management and reform, which will be completed in June.
The principle for defense exports will be revised after Japan’s national security strategy is framed by the end of this year.India and Japan now have strong security cooperation in Indo-Pacific and many cooperation has been encouraged by joint concerns about Chinese aggressive posture throughout the region. Indian officials said Modi had discussed with Kishida the problem of joint development and joint production of defense equipment in India.Japan is also working on plans to develop new fighter jets and anti-aircraft missiles with Britain and the US.