The US has welcomed the just announced India-Japan Strategic Partnership and said it is looking forward to strengthen its trilateral co-operation with them.
"The US strongly supports India's collaboration and cooperation with its neighbours in the Asia Pacific. We actively support such collaboration through our trilateral dialogue and other activities with India and Japan, and look forward to strengthening further our trilateral cooperation," State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki told PTI.
The US strongly supports a prosperous India playing an important role on the global stage, she said.
It is during the Obama Administration that India, Japan and the US have started trilateral meetings.
"As we have long said, a strong, prosperous India contributes to regional and global peace and prosperity," Psaki said responding to questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan this week.
During a meeting between Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzao Abe, the two sides announced India-Japan strategic partnership and deepening of defence relationship.
The Pentagon welcomed the decision of India and Japan and said that the latter's participation in the Malabar exercise would be routine.
"We are very excited that Japan's participation in Exercise Malabar is becoming routine and believe that credible, ready, and inter-operable maritime forces help to preserve peace, prevent conflict, and foster a spirit of cooperation to meet regional and global challenges for mutual benefit," Jeffrey S Pool, a Defence Department spokesperson said.
American think-tank community has described Modi's Japan visit a great success.
"Modi's visit to Japan has been lauded by all corners as a great success," said Alyssa Ayres, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think-tank.
"The United States has strongly supported strengthened ties between India and Japan (the US-India-Japan trilateral just one example), and the deliverables announced in the Tokyo Declaration complement components of US-India relations," Ayres told PTI.
The joint emphasis on democracy, upgraded defence relations, science and technology, and a robust catalogue of economic undertakings all illustrate similarity with priorities in the US-India relationship, she said.
