Discussion
On March 8, 2022, the 260th Japan Specialist Seminar was held as a webinar. Sang-Jun Park, Professor of International Liberal Arts, Waseda University, gave a presentation on the subject of 'Japan's Economic Stability Promotion Act: Background and Content'.
First, he introduced the progress of the Economic Security Promotion Act. With the arrival of the Kishida cabinet, the 'Meeting for knowledgeable people on the Economic and Security Act' was established under the Cabinet Office. It has scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly in the first half of 2022, and will be put into operation in 2023 unless rejected by National Assembly.
Next, he explained the background of the Economic Security Promotion Act. The Japanese government has reduced supply chain risks for major items in the semiconductor and pharmaceutical sectors due to the US-China trade conflict and the coronavirus pandemic. As the United States and the European Union, which had previously criticized China's subsidy policies, shifted to fostering their own industries in 2021, discussions over the need for government subsidies for fair competition with China and Korea have arisen in Japan as well. Accordingly, the Japanese government decided to include the economic security strategy in its growth strategy and to provide a subsidy of 400 billion yen to the Japanese factory of TSMC, a Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer. The context of the need for support for semiconductors and batteries, which are important for autonomous driving and electric vehicles in the automobile industry, Japan's central industry, is also in the background.
The bill is said to consist of four sections: (1) Reinforcement of the supply chain (2) Securing the safety and reliability of key infrastructure (3) Public-private technology cooperation (4) Undisclosed patents. Following a detailed explanation of each, the presenter presented critical points and future tasks such as increased government involvement in economic activities, the possibility of human rights violations, and friction with China, and the implications of the Economic Security Promotion Act for the Korean economy and society. In particular, he emphasized that Japanese companies are establishing various strategies in order not to lose the Chinese market, apart from the Japanese government's line of politically cooperating with the US and keeping a distance from China. Korea, which is in a political and economic tension with Japan, also argued that it was necessary to closely monitor the movements of the Japanese government and companies and establish a response strategy.
After the presentation, in a Q&A session, some questions about the relationship between Japan's efforts to digitalize, including the creation of a digital agency, and the Economic Security Promotion Act were raised. The presenter replied the document itself on the Economic Security Promotion Act was referring to the context that economic security is becoming a more important issue while digitizing it. Regarding Japan's digitization efforts, he added that although the digitization of Japanese society as a whole may be slow, it is predicted that there will be considerable progress in the digitization of Japanese companies and production facilities.
In addition, the definition of the concept of economic security guarantee, the relationship between the economic security threat and the changes in the Japanese logistics system after the Great East Japan Earthquake of 3.11, the relationship between Japan's investment and participation in the military industry and the Economic Security Promotion Act, and the relationship between the Economic Security Promotion Act and Abenomics , the seminar was concluded after discussing questions such as social status and roles of entrepreneurs in Japan compared to Korea.
