Mainichi gave top play to a GOJ plan to enhance maritime security cooperation with India, saying that MSDF personnel will be dispatched to an Indian Navy unit called the Information Fusion Centre (IFC), which is tasked with collecting and analyzing naval intelligence. The unit was reportedly launched last year with the goal of sharing information with friendly nations on vessels of interest in the Indian Ocean. Japan reportedly intends to dispatch an MSDF official and share relevant images and data collected by Japanese military assets, including intelligence-gathering satellites, as part of Prime Minister Abe’s “free and open Indo-Pacific” initiative.  Details of the maritime collaboration will be worked out during a bilateral foreign and defense ministerial meeting in November and Abe’s summit with his Indian counterpart Modi scheduled for December. The daily added that the Abe administration is keen to enhance collaboration at sea with the U.S., India, Australia, as well as some ASEAN countries, in order to secure the safe passage of vessels sailing from the Middle East to Japan via the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, with the ultimate goal of reining in China’s rapidly growing presence in the region.