When Japanese official Sanae Takaichi touched down in India, the cameras focused, predictably, on trade. Agreements on high-speed rail. Bilateral forums. The network of roughly 1,400 Japanese companies already operating across India. Good stories, all of them. But they were also, to a large degree, window dressing.
The real conversation happening between these two capitals is not about commerce. It is about survival. About deterrence. About what two nations do when they look