Four defence ministers in two days in Cebu. What did India actually come home with?

Why should a meeting in the Philippines matter?

Countries rarely fight alone. Who you train with, buy from and build with decides who stands beside you in a crisis. Defence diplomacy is making those friends before you need them.

The ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus, ADMM-Plus, is one of the few rooms where the Southeast Asian states sit with eight big partners: India, the US, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.¹

On 28 and 29 October, in Cebu in the Philippines, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh led India's delegation to the 13th meeting.¹

The problem with handshakes

Meetings like these produce photographs easily. Agreements are harder. So the useful question is simple: what came out of each room?

With US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth he reviewed the 10 year India-US Defence Framework and discussed military exchanges, maritime security and supply chains. The ministry said Hegseth reaffirmed US support for India's fight against cross border terrorism. No new agreement was announced, and we found no official record of one.²¹¹¹²

With Singapore's Chan Chun Sing the focus was more joint exercises across all three services. Singapore takes over the ADMM-Plus chair for 2027.⁴

With South Korea's Kang Shin-chul the talks covered technology, industry and maritime security, while the Indian frigate INS Sahyadri was in Busan for an exercise with the Korean navy.⁵⁹

The one room that produced a plan

Japan was different. With Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the ministers welcomed progress since August on two concrete subjects: mine countermeasures, and the possibility of joint naval shipbuilding and design that combines Japan's technology with India's production capacity.³

Mine countermeasures means finding and clearing sea mines, hidden explosives that can close a harbour. Naval News has reported that the Indian Navy has no dedicated mine countermeasure vessels in service. If that report is right, help here would fill a real hole.¹⁰

They also noted the first visit to India by Japanese fighter jets, for exercise Veer Guardian 26, and an industry forum in Tokyo with about 40 companies. And they agreed to speed up work towards a 2+2 meeting of foreign and defence ministers, and a defence ministers' meeting in Tokyo.³

India's pitch: terrorism and the sea

In his main speech the minister offered to share India's counter terrorism experience through joint exercises, training and intelligence sharing. India co-chairs the ADMM-Plus experts' group on counter terrorism with Malaysia for 2024 to 2027.⁶¹

He cited the Navy's unbroken presence in the Gulf of Aden since 2008 and proposed a defence Youth Bridge for people to people links. Its details have not been published.⁶

Earlier in the month the message had been set in two other rooms. At an ASEAN-India think tank forum in Delhi on 14 October he said India was ready to work with ASEAN partners on patrol vessels, radars, air defence systems, helicopters and drones. At the SCO meeting in Dushanbe on 20 October he said there can be no double standards on terrorism, and that connectivity projects must respect sovereignty and territorial integrity.⁸⁷

What could still go wrong?

Most of October's diplomacy was process, not signed deals. That is normal, but it means the scorecard is still blank.

The Japan track is the one to follow, because it names subjects and a next meeting. If the Tokyo meetings slip, or produce only statements, the mine clearing gap at sea stays open.³