Japan to Promote Economic Security-Linked Biz Projects Abroad

Tokyo, Feb. 17 (Jiji Press)–The Japanese government plans to revise the economic security promotion law to support companies with economic security-linked projects overseas. This will be the first revision of the law, established in 2022. The move comes amid a rapidly changing international situation, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and China’s growing economic coercion, as well as intensifying competition in the development of artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies. The government will submit a bill to revise the law during a parliamentary session starting Wednesday. Under the revised law, Japan will support designated overseas projects, such as the development of seaports crucial to logistics and data centers essential to AI development. The government will also relax regulations under the Japan Bank for International Cooperation law to enable the state-backed lender to provide funds through a subordinated investment scheme in the event of losses in overseas projects. The scheme will mitigate loss risks to other investors. Japan will launch a new think tank to examine supply chain-linked challenges in securing key economic security goods while enhancing the country’s research capabilities. The think tank will be placed under the industry ministry-affiliated Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry and will gather experts in the fields of diplomacy, intelligence, defense, economy and technology to make agile policy proposals. It will also collaborate with foreign research institutes. The law revision will include the medical field on the list of areas subject to a system that prevents foreign cyberattacks on core infrastructure operators. Additionally, Japan will support work to lay optical cables under the sea. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]