new delhi: Japan s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to unveil a Free and Open Indo Pacific Plan for Peace , with a special focus on the Global South, and seek India s support for implementing it during his visit to New Delhi on Monday. One of the key objectives of the plan will be to counter China s growing influence and assertiveness across the region and to give developing countries more options in the field of development and security, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday. Kishida will make a visit lasting little more than 24 hours for the annual India Japan Summit with his counterpart Narendra Modi on March 20. He is expected to map out the contours of the Free and Open Indo Pacific Plan for Peace at the Sapru House Lecture organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs ICWA . While continuing with former premier Shinzo Abe s policy of working closely with India on security and development across the Indo Pacific, Kishida had referred to the fallout of China s actions in the region in his keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue in Singapore last June.
It was also in this speech that Kishida first referred to the Indo Pacific plan, saying he would unveil it in spring 2023. I will lay out a Free and Open Indo Pacific Plan for Peace by next spring, which will strengthen Japan s efforts to further promote the vision of a free and open IndoPacific, with an emphasis on providing patrol vessels and enhancing maritime law enforcement capabilities, as well as cyber security, digital and green initiatives, and economic security, he had said in his speech. The announcement included Japan s intention to develop human resources in maritime security, rule of law and governance in at least 20 countries by training some 2,300 personnel, and to provide at least US 2 billion in assistance for the provision of maritime security equipment and enhancement of maritime transportation infrastructure in Indo Pacific countries. The Indo Pacific plan is expected to figure in Kishida s talks with Modi, during which he will seek India s cooperation in implementing it to uphold freedom of navigation and a rules based order in the region, the people said.
Unnamed Japanese officials told Reuters that Kishida believes India will play a significant role in realising his vision of a free and open Indo Pacific because of the country s strategic geopolitical location in the Indian Ocean.
