Abe, the last of Modi's original international friends still in office, pandered to the Indian leader's penchant for anagrams stuffed with rhetoric by describing the bilateral relationship as "Jai Japan, Jai India", where "jai" - victory - was short for Japan-India. India and Japan have over the past five years jointly criticised China for its unilateral takeover of disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. For India and Japan to commit to working together in securing the channels of maritime trade from any threat isn't new. India and Japan have traditionally pursued parallel outreaches to Africa - India holds the India-Africa Forum Summit and Japan the Tokyo International Conference on African Development. Modi and Abe today agreed to coordinate those two platforms - to collectively take on Chinese influence they can't balance individually.

Source: The Telegraph September 14, 2017 20:54 UTC