Former Union law minister Ashwani Kumar on Wednesday hailed the Indo-Japan relationship, saying it had assumed a “very sharp, strategic dimension” and become an engagement for peace and stability not only in Asia but in the entire world.

“We have seen what is happening in Doklam. We have seen what is happening in Pakistan. We are seeing who the friends of Pakistan are. We have seen what is happening in South China.

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“We have seen the open defiance of the international legal regime by some countries…India and Japan seek harmony and friendship with all our neighbours, with all the countries,” he said.

The former law minister was speaking at an interactive session at the PHD Chamber of Commerce here.

“India and Japan’s engagement is an example of a special, strategic and global relationship in all its dimensions,” Kumar said.

The Malabar Exercise in the Indian Ocean was intended to secure the sea links, which were the lifeline for not only for the economy of the entire Indian Ocean region, but also a guarantee for peace, stability and security in the world, he said.

“We also know that the road to peace is through power not through weakness. And it is for that peace the India and Japan relationship have also assumed a very sharp, strategic dimension so that this engagement have become an engagement for prosperity, peace and stability not only in Asia but in the rest of the world,” he said.

Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu said Japanese companies would further accelerate their pace of investments in India’s manufacturing, services and retail sector since the strategic alliance between the two is deepening with transformational tendencies surfacing in ease of doing business in India in the last five years.

“With the Japanese prime minister coming to India in very near future, another comprehensive package is likely to be announced to strengthen Indo-Japan trade ties, as the two countries are preparing for better security, defence cooperation including better exchanges between the armed, naval and air force of the two nations.

“Economic trade in 2015 was USD 2.6 billion which rose to USD 4.7 billion in 2016,” he said.

To a question, the ambassador said the dedicated freight corridor project would be completed by 2019 whereas the real construction on Mumbai-Ahmedabad train project would commence in 2018, to be completed by 2023.