PIB TrackerAt Cebu ADMM-Plus, Rajnath meets US and Japan ministers
On the margins of the 13th ADMM-Plus in Cebu, the Defence Minister held talks with the defence ministers of the US, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, as INS Sahyadri reached Busan for an exercise with Korea - four bilateral tracks in one day, and no agreement signed.
What happened
- Rajnath Singh met US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of the 13th ADMM-Plus in Cebu, Philippines, on 28 October 2026, reviewing the India-US Major Defence Partnership and the 10-year Defence Framework: readiness, technology sharing, industrial integration, maritime security and supply chains.
- On terrorism, India called for zero tolerance towards nations that support, train or fund terrorist organisations; Hegseth reaffirmed US support to India against cross-border terrorism, and both spoke of moving the relationship to 'strategic convergence'.
- With Japan's Shinjiro Koizumi: progress since August on mine countermeasures and possible joint naval shipbuilding and design; air cooperation after Veer Guardian 26, the first JASDF fighter visit to India; a Defence Industry Forum in Tokyo with about 40 companies; work towards the 4th 2+2 to be accelerated.
- With Singapore's Chan Chun Sing: wider tri-service exercises, an invitation to Aero India 2027 (Bengaluru, February) and congratulations on Singapore taking the ADMM-Plus chair for 2027; with South Korea's Kang Shin-chul: co-developing military technologies, industry collaboration and maritime security.
- INS Sahyadri, an indigenously designed guided-missile stealth frigate, reached Busan on 26 October for the India-RoK Navy bilateral exercise: a harbour phase, then coordinated activities at sea with ROKS Munmu the Great.
For Prelims
- ADMM-Plus: the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting with eight Dialogue Partners - Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the US. It first met in Hanoi on 12 October 2010; the Philippines chairs it in 2026, hence Cebu, and Singapore takes over the chair for 2027.
- India-US Defence Framework: the ten-year 'Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership' was signed by Rajnath Singh and Hegseth in Kuala Lumpur on 31 October 2025, on the sidelines of the 12th ADMM-Plus. Cebu was the first ADMM-Plus review of it, a year on.
- Foundational agreements: the four India-US enabling pacts are GSOMIA (2002, security of military information), LEMOA (2016, logistics), COMCASA (2018, secure communications) and BECA (2020, geospatial intelligence). The release refers to their 'robust progression' without naming them.
- India-Japan 2+2: the foreign and defence ministers' dialogue met first in 2019 (India), then 2022 (Tokyo) and August 2024 (New Delhi); the fourth is to be held in Tokyo. Koizumi became Defence Minister on 21 October 2025. The relationship is a Special Strategic and Global Partnership.
- Veer Guardian: the India-Japan bilateral air exercise, first held at Hyakuri, Japan, in January 2023 - the first fighter exercise between the IAF and the JASDF. The release says the 2026 edition brought JASDF fighter aircraft to India for the first time.
- Singapore: described by Rajnath Singh as a key pillar of the Act East Policy; the two sides discussed expanding joint exercises across all three services. Aero India 2027, India's biennial air show, is scheduled for Bengaluru in February.
- INS Sahyadri: the third and last Project 17 (Shivalik-class) stealth frigate, built by Mazagon Dock and commissioned in July 2012. ROKS Munmu the Great is a KDX-II (Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class) destroyer of the Republic of Korea Navy.
- Korea track: the same day Rajnath Singh and Kang Shin-chul discussed co-developing military technologies, and Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal met HD Hyundai's chairman in Seoul on a proposed US$4 billion greenfield shipyard at Thoothukudi (about 2.5 million GT a year) under the India-RoK Special Strategic Partnership.
For UPSC: 13th ADMM-Plus, Cebu (Philippines chair 2026): India-US 10-year Defence Framework (signed 31 Oct 2025) reviewed; India-Japan 4th 2+2 due in Tokyo; INS Sahyadri-ROKS Munmu exercise, Busan.
What it is NOT: The releases report conversations, not agreements: nothing was signed at Cebu, and none of the four meetings names a new platform, contract or co-production project. The India-US readout does not say which foundational agreements progressed or how; the Japan readout says joint shipbuilding is still being explored, with no date for the 2+2; the Korea readout names no technology to be co-developed. The Sahyadri release gives no dates for the sea phase, and no release reports India's statement to the ADMM-Plus plenary itself.
For Mains
Syllabus: GS3.20 · GS2.18 · Linkage L1
Anchor
India's defence diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific runs on parallel bilateral tracks that meet at ASEAN forums. At Cebu, four ministerial meetings and a frigate in Busan showed the pattern: deepen ties with each partner while the multilateral meeting supplies the venue.
Substantiation (data)
The India-US 10-year Defence Framework, signed on 31 October 2025, was reviewed a year on; India and Japan are discussing mine countermeasures and joint naval shipbuilding after JASDF fighters first visited India; Singapore, which chairs ADMM-Plus in 2027, discussed tri-service exercises; South Korea discussed co-developing military technology while INS Sahyadri exercised off Busan.
Position
Partnerships with the US, Japan, Korea and Singapore add technology and industrial depth that India cannot build alone - shipbuilding and design, supply chains, mine warfare - while ASEAN-led forums give India a seat at the table where China is also present.
Counterpoint
Readouts without deliverables can mask stalled projects. The US meeting stressed terrorism and convergence but named no co-production item; Japan is still exploring shipbuilding; Korea's co-development has no named project; and deeper dependence on any one partner's supply chain carries its own strategic risk.
Way forward
Turn the frameworks into dated deliverables - a co-production list with the US, a ship design project with Japan, technology and yard partnerships with Korea - align them with the domestic shipbuilding package and the Thoothukudi yard, and use Singapore's 2027 chair to keep the ADMM-Plus working groups active.
Conclusion
Cebu produced no signatures, but it showed where India's maritime partnerships are heading: from exercises and dialogue towards building ships and systems together. The next 2+2 in Tokyo is where that should become specific.
Deploys into: India's Indo-Pacific strategy · Defence diplomacy and ASEAN-led forums · Defence industrial partnerships · Maritime security cooperation
Ministry of Defence · 2026-10-28 · PRID 2329441 · PIB source ↗