India and Japan are going to plan anti-terrorism exercises next year. This will be the first time when India and Japan will work together against terrorism.
This move could possibly irk China, as Beijing sees Japan as a regional military rival with which it has territorial disputes. India and Japan have a "Special Strategic and Global Partnership."
The expansion of military ties between the two countries comes during the last trip of Union minister Arun Jaitley to Japan. Nirmala Sitharaman takes full-time charge of the defence Ministry tomorrow. While in Japan, Mr Jaitley visited a Japanese Navy base and 'flew' a Japanese P-1 aircraft simulator.
The navies of both countries will train together in anti-submarine warfare and anti-mine warfare exercises, which could see the India deploy its US-built P-8-I anti-submarine jets to Japanese naval bases for the very first time.