Tokyo’s new industrial strategy reflects growing concern over economic security amid frayed bilateral ties with Beijing, analysts say
dominates the global market, analysts said.
The plan, approved by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s cabinet, targets 17 strategic industries, including semiconductors, AI and shipping, including the repair of large seagoing vessels.
About 100 billion yen (US$616 million) would be allocated to ship repair capacity, eWorldship, a Chinese business-to-business industry portal, calculated in a WeChat post on Sunday. In the official draft, Tokyo said a mix of public and private investments would finance the upgrades through 2040.
Japan currently handled only 7 per cent of its own ship repairs, eWorldship said, while China was responsible for 60 per cent of the global total, including most of the work on Japanese vessels. This growing reliance had raised concerns in Tokyo amid increasingly strained bilateral ties, according to analysts.
hawkish stance against Chinasince (she was) elected,” said Liang Yan, a professor of economics at Willamette University in the United States. “Seeing China as an economic ... threat prompts the interest to rebuild the ship repair sector to reduce vulnerability.”
Takaichi angered Beijingby suggesting Tokyo could deploy military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
Against this backdrop, Katsuya Yamamoto, director of the Tokyo-based Sasakawa Peace Foundation’s Strategy and Deterrence Programme, underlined the strategic importance of shipping.