It has been almost two decades since former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stood in India’s parliament and told the assembled legislators that "it is incumbent upon us two democracies, Japan and India, to carry out the pursuit of freedom and prosperity in the region.”

Abe defined their task as protecting the freedom of navigation in what he was the first to call the Indo-Pacific. That task has gotten only more urgent as the U.S. withdraws — or, more recently, imposes blockades on crucial straits — and China pushes harder against the first island chain.

Abe’s vision never really became reality, because Japan’s efforts with India and others in Asia always had self-imposed limits. There’s a chance, however, now that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has eliminated some of those constraints. With the recent revision of rules to remove restrictions on overseas sales of lethal weapons, Japan can export advanced equipment, including warships and missiles, and support its partners’ defense far more directly.

© The Japan Times