China's challenge: Japan will invest $ 75 billion in the Indo-Pacific region

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is on a two-day visit to India in view of the shared challenge of China, on Monday announced an ambitious new plan for an open and free Indo-Pacific Ocean. The plan promised an investment of $75 billion to help the economies of the region on a range of issues ranging from industry to disaster prevention. President of G-20 countries in India's capital New Delhi President of G-7 countries PM of Japan announced this plan Tokyo's strong partnership with countries of South and South East Asia to counter China's growing aggression The most vocal effort is being considered.

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as the chairman of the G7 countries, invited his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to the summit of the group of seven major industrialized countries to be held in Hiroshima in May, which was accepted by PM Modi. Both countries are members of the Quad countries for the first time to stop China's interference in the Indian Pacific region.

Kishida said that in 2016, former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe had given the Free and Open Indo Pacific (FOIP) vision. Kishida said Japan is looking at expanding cooperation for FOIP. Kishida said this vision is becoming more important than ever toward the goal of leading the international community toward cooperation rather than division and confrontation. Kishida said the new free and open Indo-Pacific plan had four pillars. 1. Keeping the peace. 2. Dealing with new global issues in cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries. 3. To have global connectivity through various platforms. 4. To ensure the security of the open sea and sky. To achieve these goals, Kishida pledged to invest $75 billion in the Indo-Pacific by 2030 through private investment, official government aid, grants and Japanese loans.

Both Japan and India are facing Chinese aggression. Where India is facing the challenge of China's territorial integrity in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, Japan is also facing the challenge of territorial integrity and economic security due to China's claim on the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. China's territorial and military claim over the entire South China Sea is a major cause of concern for Japan. The China Sea and the Indian Pacific Ocean are very important for China's trade. In this way, China is the biggest common challenge before India and Japan in the defence sector.

In a joint press conference with Kishida, PM Modi said that in 2021, we had set a target of Japanese investment of 5 trillion yen i.e. three lakh twenty thousand crore rupees in the next 5 years. It is a matter of satisfaction that good progress has been made in this direction.

Rapid progress is also being made in the construction of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail network. PM Modi told that we are celebrating 2023 as the Year of Tourism Exchange. For this, we have chosen the theme of connecting the Himalayas with Mount Fuji. The PM pointed out that the two countries also had a fruitful discussion on the importance of reliable supply chains in semiconductors and other critical technologies. The PM said that both the leaders also discussed their respective priorities on their respective chairmanships of G-7 and G-20.