Japan’s Takaichi Backs Quad in First Call to Modi Amid US Silence
New Delhi: As the United States continues to stay silent on the future of the Quad during President Donald Trump’s ongoing Asia tour, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi assured her Indian counterpart of Japan’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific grouping as a conduit for its strategic interests in the region.
The two leaders spoke on Wednesday afternoon in their first conversation since Takaichi became Japan’s first woman prime minister last week.
According to a readout from Japan’s foreign ministry, Takaichi told Modi that Japan and India share “fundamental values and strategic interests” and would continue working together to realise a “‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’, including through Japan-Australia-India-US (Quad)”.
Referring to the “Japan-India Joint Vision for the Next Decade” announced during Modi’s visit to Tokyo in August, Takaichi said Japan would further deepen cooperation with India in a wide range of areas such as security, economy, investment, innovation and people-to-people exchanges. She expressed her intention to work closely with Modi to “open a new golden chapter” in the Japan-India Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
In response, Modi congratulated Takaichi on her appointment and expressed hope for further strengthening bilateral ties through “advancing concrete cooperation in various areas.”
In a post on X, Modi said he had a “warm conversation” and discussed their “shared vision for advancing the India-Japan Special Strategic and Global Partnership, with focus on economic security, defence cooperation and talent mobility.”
“We agreed that stronger India–Japan ties are vital for global peace, stability and prosperity,” he added.
The phone call came a day after Trump wrapped up his Japan visit, the second leg of his ongoing Asia tour. He began his trip in Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN and East Asia summits, before travelling to Tokyo for a two-day visit and then onward to the APEC summit. Trump is scheduled to hold a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea to clinch a possible trade deal.
Throughout his engagements in Asia, Trump has not made a single public reference to the Quadrilateral, even though the revival of the grouping was once a key feature of his first-term foreign policy. The apparent lack of interest comes despite two Quad foreign ministers’ meetings earlier this year – one shortly after Trump’s inauguration in January and another in July.
Modi had invited Trump to attend a Quad leaders’ summit in India this year, but no such visit has been scheduled. This has fuelled concerns in New Delhi and Tokyo that the Quad and the broader Indo-Pacific framework may no longer figure prominently in Washington’s agenda during Trump’s second term.
When Trump met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier this month, there was again no public mention of the Quad. The meeting focused instead on a new critical minerals and rare earths partnership, with Trump reaffirming support for the AUKUS security pact.
Even so, during Trump’s Japan visit, Takaichi made only limited public references to the grouping. In her bilateral talks with the US president, she reiterated that a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” would remain a central pillar of her government’s foreign policy.
The Japanese foreign ministry’s readout of that meeting noted that both sides had affirmed the importance of strengthening “regional networks among like-minded partners, such as Japan-US-Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan-US-Philippines, and Japan-Australia-India-US” under the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision.
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