The stubborn Chinese footprints in South Asia, including the Indian ocean, have forced India and Japan to have strategically closer ties.
The two countries were tacitly trying to stymie the growing Chinese military ambitions with defense dialogues, bilateral maritime exercises and a possible Japanese arms export to India. There's no doubt that New Delhi wants to replicate Beijing's "Strings of Pearls" strategy and expand its ties with Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.
But the Chinese discomfort over the Tokyo-Delhi bonhomie and the Indo-US-Japan trilateral was evident. China's state-run People's Daily made it clear when it accused the US of involving India and Japan to contain the growing Chinese hegemony in the region. Lu Yaodong of Institute of Japanese Studies in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences interpreted the India-Japan summit as "continuance of Japan's Arc of Freedom and Prosperity strategy, which is an effort to contain China".
China on Wednesday reacted cautiously about Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda's maiden visit to India. The Chinese foreign ministry simply said they were ready to actively develop ties with both Japan and India.
Such assertions, however, were likely to be taken with a pinch of salt. China's couched yet aggressive posturing in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) and its military partnership with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been good reasons to make New Delhi nervous.
Moreover, the maritime faceoff between Tokyo and Beijing over the past few years have brought a sense of insecurity in the Indian ocean realm.
Vietnam, too, has been under pressure over China's territorial claims in the "disputed" South China Sea region. The ripple effects were felt in India as China tried to block ONGC's offshore explorations in South China Sea.
To ensure balance of power, Japanese officials said Indo-Japan maritime cooperation was needed. During defense minister A.K. Antony's visit to Tokyo in October he talked tough on freedom of navigation in international waters.
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