India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (left) and Japan's then defence minister Yasukazu Hamada pose for photos before the second Japan-India "2+2" Ministerial Meeting in Tokyo on September 8, 2022. Photo: VCG

India and Japan are set to hold a 2+2 ministerial meeting in India on Tuesday, bringing together the foreign and defense ministers from both countries to focus on strengthening their security cooperation. Analysts note that India and Japan have been deepening their relations in recent years, focusing on aligning their efforts to counterbalance China's influence and to enhance their respective roles in the Asia-Pacific region.

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will hold the "2+2" meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Defense Minister Minoru Kihara on Tuesday. 

At the meeting, the two sides "will hold full-fledged discussions" on the revision of a joint declaration on security cooperation, "taking China's increasing maritime expansion into account," Japanese media outlet Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Saturday.

The meeting will be the third of its kind since the first one in 2019. Japan and India have been enhancing their bilateral cooperation in recent years, and the latest meeting will focus on strategic coordination to increase their regional influence and counter China, said analysts. 

It will also address maritime issues, particularly in the South China Sea, Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times.  

Qian said that India and Japan both have distinct needs for strengthening their relationship. For India, deepening cooperation with Japan will help it diversify its arms imports, while Japan also benefits from an improved defense cooperation network with other countries. 

Moreover, while US-India relations have been strained due to various factors, including India's ties with Russia and US criticism of India's human rights record, Japan, which has been maintaining strong ties with both India and the US, can play a role in mediating US-India relations and enhancing the development of the Quad mechanism, Qian told the Global Times on Monday. 

However, discrepancies in their relations with Russia and the US reflect a significant gap in their fundamental ideals and principles in foreign relations, analysts said, noting that unlike Japan - a firm ally of the US - India consistently holds a stance of non-alignment. 

India and Japan have different starting points on regional and global security issues, and more obstacles will emerge when they try to deepen their bilateral and multilateral cooperation, said analysts.