As he arrives on a path-breaking visit here tomorrow, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to gently push at Japan’s closed but unlocked door on defence technology exports to India.While no final decision is expected during his three-day visit here, Mukherjee hopes to launch a structured defence dialogue that will facilitate the transfer of Japanese military and dual-use technologies to India in the near future.The joint statement to be issued after Mukherjee’s talks will underline growing cooperation on a range of issues, including the security of sea lanes, counter-terrorism and disaster management.It is the prospect of defence technology transfers that, however, has emerged as a potentially exciting element in the widening Indo-Japanese engagement.Besides meeting senior figures of the Japanese security establishment, Mukherjee will reach out to the top guns of the defence industry in Tokyo.Mukherjee’s soundings here on arms transfers and the sale of dual-use technologies come on top of intensified defence interaction between the two establishments in recent months.This year alone saw the visit of all the three military service chiefs from Japan. Last year, the chief of the Japanese Defence Agency, equivalent of our Defence Ministry, was in Delhi.Mukherjee is eager to elevate these high-level exchanges to a more enduring and mutually beneficial defence engagement.Japan is the only major producer of advanced military technologies in the world that does not supply arms and equipment to India. Bound by strict laws that prohibit sale of arms exports of any kind, Japan has made an exception only for its long-standing ally — the US.India has traditionally accessed Russia and West Europe for arms and equipment. Since the early 1990s, Israel has emerged as a major source of defence technology for India. The US over the last year has unveiled a new policy that promises to sell advanced weapon systems to India.To widen India’s defence options further, Mukherjee would want his Japanese interlocutors to start relaxing the current rules against substantive defence cooperation with New Delhi.Despite its peace constitution, Japan has for long been the second largest spender on defence. Its top defence industries, including Mitsubishi, Ishikawajima, Toshiba and Kawasaki, hold a treasure trove of advanced military technologies.Mukherjee is likely to remind his hosts that India had brought large numbers of Nissan trucks for military use from Japan in the 1950s before the rules against arms exports came into force in 1976.The defence industry here has been pressing the Government for some time now to relax the current restrictive rules against arms exports.The arms industry here believes that liberalised policies on arms exports would bring in considerable revenues and increase the competitiveness of the Japanese arms manufacturers.When the Japanese Government issued new defence guidelines at the end of 2004, it was hinted that reconsideration of the policy on arms exports was on the anvil.As part of the decision to jointly develop and produce weapons systems with the US, the Japanese Cabinet had in December 2004 stated that cooperation in arms production with other countries could also be considered.Informed sources here say Japan is already debating the possibility of exporting non-lethal arms to the South-East Asian countries to counter terrorism and maritime piracy.Besides arms, Japan could also be an attractive destination for India on a range of dual-use technology items. The Japanese rules on the sale of these are less restrictive than those on arms sales.Japanese suppliers of electronic chips, components and sensors could carve out a niche for themselves in the Indian defence market.
