India and Japan on Thursday agreed to deepen military engagement at the second two-plus-two dialogue.

Tokyo underscored the need for the two countries to step up security cooperation at a time when New Delhi has sent an army contingent to participate in Vostok-2022 — the Russia-led multi-country military exercises in the Russian Far East.

Since some of the exercises are being held in the Kuril Islands — part of which both Russia and Japan claim — Tokyo had shot off a protest letter to Moscow through diplomatic channels and India sent only an army contingent for Vostok, apparently in deference to Japanese sensitivities.

The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun quoted Japan’s foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi as stressing the need for much closer military cooperation at Thursday’s dialogue.

“As we face many challenges in the Indo-Pacific and beyond the region today, we want to share the awareness of the security environment in the region so that we can achieve a concrete and strong cooperation between us,” Hayashi was reported to have said.

Further, according to the newspaper, he noted Russia’s war on Ukraine, China’s increasingly assertive and coercive actions, including escalating tension near Taiwan, as well as North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats.

The joint statement reflected some of these concerns with the four ministers reaffirming their commitment to a rules-based global order that respects sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations, and emphasised the need for all countries to seek peaceful resolution of disputes in accordance with international law without resorting to threat or use of force or any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo.

Besides Hayashi, the other ministers who were part of this two plus two dialogue were Japanese defence minister Hamada Yasukazu, and their Indian counterparts S. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh respectively.

Acknowledging Japan’s plans to reinforce its defence capabilities over the next five years and secure a larger budgetary allocation to operationalise this, India expressed a willingness to work towards an enhanced security and defence cooperation.

The recent months have already seen a deepening of the military cooperation with Japan for the first time participating in India’s multilateral exercise MILAN, and the two air forces working closely for the first bilateral fighter exercise.

Referring to the various challenges facing the world today — conflicts, climate change and the disruption of supply chains — Jaishankar in his statement to the media said: “In the face of such challenges, the case for India and Japan to collaborate more closely on foreign policy and security questions has become even stronger. Our consultations in various formats have dwelt on the imperative of economic security. We are also working together on cyber security, 5G deployment and critical and strategic minerals.’’