New Delhi: India and Japan have signed a critical military logistics agreement. According to this pact, the militaries of both countries will from now on have access to each other’s military bases for emergency deployments. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe have welcomed this decision, and have expressed confidence that this treaty would benefit global peace and security. Meanwhile, a Chinese mouthpiece had already begun threatening Japan and India four days before the announcement of the strategic pact.   

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In 2016, based on the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed with the United States, India had made the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA) pact with Japan. The deal was signed by Indian Defence Secretary Dr Ajay Kumar and Japanese Ambassador Suzuki Satoshi and will be renewed after every ten years.  

The treaty will strengthen the defence cooperation between both the countries and their militaries would be able to use each other bases. The treaty will now make possible refuelling and provision of other essentials on warships and fighter planes as well as allow temporary military deployments. Therefore, Indian warships patrolling in the South China Sea would be deployed in Japanese ports for repair works. Also, Japanese fighter and cargo planes can arrive at the Andaman-Nicobar base for refuelling. Hence, the treaty is strategically very significant.   

In the past few years, India has signed such pacts with the United States, France, South Korea, Singapore and Australia. As per the LEMOA treaty signed with the United States, India can use its military bases in Djibouti, Diego Garcia and Guam. A few weeks back, India had signed a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement with Australia.   

The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece, started threatening Japan and India because of the pact. The story claimed that even after collaborating, India and Japan would not be able to exert pressure on China. Furthermore, the daily also made provocative statements. It said because of the Coronavirus pandemic, Japan would seek China’s help to recover its economy, and India’s economy is not big enough to challenge China. However, it has become clear that while China comments on Indian and Japanese economies, the condition of its economy has become dire.  

Food shortage and unemployment is causing havoc and thus adding a lot of pressure on China. In the coming times, the Chinese economy may shrink drastically, and it will then require support from the United States, European nations, Japan as well as India to restore it. However, China’s tiffs with all these nations have reached their peak.  

As a result, in the near future, rather than these nations needing China’s support, it is more likely that China may be hit severely due to non-cooperation from the countries on the economic front.