Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is fully committed to enhancing ties with India and the Quad, says the government’s spokesperson, Assistant Minister Toshihiro Kitamura. Ms. Takaichi, Japan’s first woman in the post, is the fourth Japanese PM in the past five years. Despite the frequent changes in government PM Takaichi, a protegee of PM Shinzo Abe and a self-confessed fan of Margaret Thatcher is seen as more conservative than her predecessors on other issues. Amid concerns over PM Takaichi’s hard-line views on immigration issues, Mr. Kitamura, Director-General for Press and Public Diplomacy at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained why a Cabinet Minister has been appointed to deal with foreign nationals in the country. Excerpts from his interview to The Hindu:
What is the new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s vision for India-Japan relations?
The new government led by Prime Minister Takaichi took office just two days ago. PM Takaichi is now building a team to implement her agenda, which is, firstly to build a strong Japanese economy, and in the field of diplomacy, to restore Japanese diplomacy that flourishes on the world’s centre stage. Ms. Takaichi was close to former Prime Minister Abe, and admired the diplomacy under former Prime Minister Abe. She will strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, which is a cornerstone of Japanese diplomacy and security policy. At the same time, she’d like to strengthen the networks of diplomacy and security cooperation that former Prime Ministers have established up to now, and cooperation with India is one of those networks. And of course, like-minded countries such as Australia and South Korea, Philippines and European nations are also important, but India is very unique because India is the leader of the global south and the third world. In order to promote the main pillar of the Japanese diplomacy, a Free and Open Indo Pacific, India is a crucial partner. Prime Minister Takaichi is fully committed to promote further cooperation with India.
During Prime Minister Modi’s visit just two months ago, there were more than a dozen agreements signed with Prime Minister Ishiba, on economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and agreement on mobility. Will these be taken forward, especially the agreement on mobility, given PM Takaichi’s views against immigration?
First, to clarify, PM Takaichi is not anti-immigrant or anti-migration. The Japanese population is declining, and we need foreign workforce to support, maintain and revitalise our economy. However, it is true that there were various opinions regarding the massive wave of foreign immigrants. So Prime Minister Takaichi has designated one Minister to be responsible for foreign policy and discuss this issue. No decision has been made in this regard. As regards to cooperation on skilling and workforce exchanges with India, the truth is that Japan does not have sufficient talent, particularly in IT and Science related industries, as India does. So far, these exchanges have been limited, due to language barriers. So in order to promote the exchange between two countries, [Mr. Modi and Mr. Ishiba] decided to promote people to people exchanges that will contribute to further prosperity of both countries. And Prime Minister Takaichi will promote the agreement we have made as well.
Even so, Japan now has its fourth PM in 5 years- will there be foreign policy consistency? Especially on issues like the Quad, that seems to have been put on the back-burner?
As I said, the Japan-U.S. alliance is a cornerstone of our diplomacy and security policy, but we need the kind of multi layered network cooperation, especially in the area of security. Quad is a framework to promote practical cooperation between the four countries [Japan-U.S.-Australian-India] in the fields identified this year – maritime and transnational security, economic prosperity and security, critical and emerging technology, and humanitarian assistance and emergency response. Yes, there has been a change in Prime Ministers, but in Japan, diplomacy doesn’t change with the change of governments, and we remain committed to the Quad engagement. And I think the most recent example of cooperation is joint operational exercises by the Coast Guard agencies of the four countries, to ensure freedom of navigation, and a logistic cooperation in the event of a disaster.
During U.S. President Trump’s visit to Japan next week, will PM Takaichi raise the Quad engagement, and can Japan play a bridge in terms of ensuring that there will be a Quad summit soon?
Well, in terms of the diplomatic calendar, Ms. Takaichi will travel to Malaysia soon to attend the ASEAN-related meetings, including the Japan-ASEAN summit meeting, and then return to prepare for the visit by U.S. President Trump from October 27-29. We are still coordinating the visit and preparing the discussion points so I am not sure if the Quad issue will be raised. But I would reiterate that for Japan, the Quad engagement is important, and we would also like to ensure the U.S. engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.
PM Modi is not going for the ASEAN meetings, do you anticipate a meeting between him and PM Takaichi soon? India had invited PM Kishida for the Artificial Intelligence Summit in Delhi in February 2026…
I am not sure as of now, but before that [AI Summit], there is still the standing invitation by India for the Quad summit, to be held later this year, for which the date has not been finalised.
Former PM Kishida had unveiled a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” FOIP policy during a visit to Delhi in March 2023, outlining Japan’s support for infrastructure projects in Bangladesh and in India’s North-East states. Will those continue now, especially with the change in government in Dhaka since then?
A: Yes, Japan is still committed to promoting the strategic partnership with Bangladesh, even with the interim government (led by Muhammad Yunus). Japan places high importance on building industry value-chains linking the Bay of Bengal to the Northeast of India, including supporting the Matarbari deep-sea port development project as part of the Bay of Bengal industrial growth belt. And we want to support connectivity from Chittagong to Dhaka. Japan is still very much committed to the FOIP announcements of 2023.
(The correspondent is visiting Japan at the invitation of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
