Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that his two-day visit to Japan has been “remarkable and successful in many ways.” “My visit to Japan has been remarkable and successful in many ways. This visit has reiterated our Prime Ministers’ unwavering commitment to working together towards a vision for Indo-Pacific region. Singh stated that his visit ‘clearly underlined’ the two countries’ desire to further deepen the strategic and defence cooperation. “During this visit, India-Japan’s desire to further deepen the strategic and defence cooperation between both the countries and take it to the next level was clearly underlined. I thank the people and Government of Japan for their warmth and hospitality,” Singh said in another tweet. Singh arrived here on Monday evening (local time) on the first leg of his five-day visit to East Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea. On the same day, Singh met Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and conveyed India’s commitment to further enhance the defence engagements with Japan. “The meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan Abe Shinzo was excellent. India attaches the highest priority to our bilateral relationship with Japan,” he tweeted after the meeting. Singh told Abe that Pakistan has no “locus standi on Jammu and Kashmir, which is an integral part of India.” As per an official statement, he also informed the Japanese Prime Minister that the decision to revoke the special status accorded to the former state will benefit its people. The Japan-India Annual Defence Ministerial Dialogue was also held on Monday between Singh and his Japenese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya. The Ministers affirmed their intention to hold the first Foreign and Defence Ministerial Dialogue (2+2) ahead of the Japan-India Annual Summit this year “for advancing cooperation towards peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region”. In June, New Delhi and Tokyo had decided to hold their maiden 2+2 dialogue. The Defence Minister will now begin his three-day visit to the Republic of Korea starting Wednesday and if Kashmir issue comes up, he will convey India’s position, said Indian envoy Sripriya Ranganathan on Tuesday.
