Referring to the need for building an Asian community and ensuring safe sea lanes of communications (SLOCs) in which the maritime democracies should lead the pack, the Japanese leader said : 'No other duo can make an alliance that is as natural as India and Japan.'

Abe was speaking at a seminar organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) and Japan Institute for National Fundamentals (JINF) in Delhi.

The Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh hosted a lunch in the honour of Abe.

The Japanese leader, however, cautioned to keep China out of Asian security group, which according to him would include India, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and the US.

'You can assure the Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Indonesians, Australians and the Americans, if not the Chinese, once you have chosen to use your naval assets for the confluence of the two seas and for the freedom and prosperity therein,' he said.

According to Abe with US on board the East Asia Summit (EAS) has gained more and more importance for free, open, safe and strong Asian Community. He suggested EAS should take the lead in building up the Asian Community.

He, however, noted the US was destined to become weaker in relative terms and cautioned : 'But let us not be confused. Let us not jump onto the wrong bandwagon and choose a wrong partner. In America, we see the oldest democracy. In China we see an autocracy both the oldest and the newest as it is still in making.'

He further clarified : 'China will remain both an opportunity and a risk for a long time to come.....Yet in times of financial challenge, the US needs us, as much as we the Asians need America.'
The Japanese leader noted that unlike Europe, in the Indo-Pacific region the theory of 'hegemonic stability' holds good.

He called joint naval exercises by India and Japan. 'Our two navies can exchange flag signals. They can speak to each other using traditional light signals,' he said.

The Japanese leader invited Indian naval officers to visit their base in Djibouti and suggested reciprocity of Japanese naval officers visiting Indian bases in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. He mentioned that Japanese navy was engaged in anti-piracy activities off the coast of Somalia.

Abe lauded India for its help when the tsunami struck Japanese coast damaging its nuclear establishment and expressed sorrow over the recent earthquake disaster in Sikkim in India. He thanked India for issuing more than 10,000 three-year work visas to Japanese businessmen in last two years alone. 'Indeed the Japanese need your market and human power; the Indians need our technology and investment,' he said.

Harping upon the old relationships between the two countries, the Japanese leader remined that India was the first country to receive Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan.