Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi poses during a photo session at the Prime Minister’s official residence in Tokyo on October 21, 2025
| Photo Credit: AP
Ties between India and Japan are “vital” for regional and global peace, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulating Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday (October 21, 2025). Officials said the two leaders are expected to speak over the telephone in the next few days, and are likely to meet as early as this weekend, on the sidelines of the upcoming Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS).
Mr. Modi is expected to travel for the summits, although the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has not made an announcement yet. Ms. Takaichi, 64, was elected by the Japanese Parliament or Diet, making her the first woman Japanese Prime Minister, weeks after she won the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
In a message on social media, Mr. Modi said he looked forward to working closely with Ms. Takaichi to further strengthen the India–Japan ‘Special Strategic and Global Partnership’.
“Our deepening ties are vital for peace, stability, and prosperity across the Indo-Pacific and beyond,” Mr. Modi added.
The change in government in Japan comes just weeks after Mr. Modi visited Tokyo to hold the 15th India-Japan summit with then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on August 29. The two sides had signed a number of agreements including an Economic Security Partnership, including cooperation on building critical mineral industry capacity, and an upgraded Strategic Partnership. Experts say Ms. Takaichi is expected to continue the upward trend in India-Japan ties, and strengthen them further.
Ms. Takaichi is also known for a “hawkish” position on China, and more militaristic foreign policy, and may be expected to seek a closer strategic engagement with Indo-Pacific partners.
“Ms. Takaichi is a protegee of former PM Shinzo Abe, whose tenure in office (2012-2020) is seen as the golden period for India-Japan ties,” former Ambassador to Japan Deepa Wadhwa told The Hindu. “As a result, she will likely continue to focus on the Indo-Pacific as Mr. Abe did, and we can expect her to be more proactive about the Quad engagement as well,” Ms. Wadhwa added, referring to Mr. Abe’s initiation of the U.S.-India-Australia-Japan grouping that earned him the name “Quadfather”.
In particular, all eyes this weekend will be on whether Ms. Takaichi will play a more proactive role in shoring up the Quad partnership by playing a bridging role between India and the U.S. Tensions between India and the U.S. over trade and tariffs have held up the scheduling of the Quad Summit, meant to be held in November this year.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are expected to be at the ASEAN meet in Malaysia and it remains to be seen whether a date for the Quad Summit can be expected soon.
New Delhi has also invited all the leaders for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Summit in Delhi in February 2026, and Mr. Modi had personally invited Mr. Ishiba to attend the summit when they met in Tokyo.
While Ms. Takaichi’s election is expected to have a positive impact on ties with India in other respects, some experts cautioned that Ms. Takaichi’s more right-wing stance on immigration may upset mobility partnership plans between the two countries. In August, Mr. Modi and Mr. Ishiba had signed an “Action Plan for India-Japan Human Resource Exchange and Cooperation” that aimed for a two-way exchange of 5,00,000 personnel in five years, including “50,000 skilled personnel and potential talents from India to Japan”.
This plan could run into headwinds, the experts warned, given that Ms. Takaichi won the primary vote in Parliament due to support from the Ishin Party, or Japan Innovation Party, that shares her more hard-line views on national security, defence spending and immigration.
Last month the more moderate Komeito party, which has been a coalition partner of the Liberal Democratic Party since 1999, pulled out of the 26-year old partnership over its differences with Ms. Takaichi’s views.
Published – October 21, 2025 10:08 pm IST
