Missing a Common Synergy: The India-Japan Divide on Ukraine
Jagannath P. Panda
Introduction:
In April 2022, the successful bilateral of New Delhi and Tokyo witnessed the emergence of a disagreement between the partners. Japan sought permission to land a C-2 transport plane of the Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) to pick up humanitarian supplies from Mumbai for Ukrainian refugees in Poland and Romania. India denied this request.
Keeping in mind the sensitivities attached to Japan’s ASDF, India approved only Japan’s use of a commercial plane to collect the provisions. This forced Japan to redraw its plans to omit India. A Japanese government official claimed that although India had agreed to allow the transport plane in an earlier working level interaction between the two states, it thereafter withdrew consent rather suddenly.
The incident has raised several questions about the voracity of the India-Japan partnership, and how far the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine is impacting synergy between the two Asian states. Amidst such developments, how can the India and Japan partnership balance the impact of the Ukraine-Russia conflict?
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