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Topic:  5G: China’s dream to dominate world technology Writter:  THOMAS J. DUESTERBERG Publish Date:  22 December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times 5G: China’s dream to dominate world technology BY THOMAS J. DUESTERBERG GETTY IMAGES WASHINGTON –  U.S.-European cooperation on economic issues is at a low ebb. Efforts to rekindle interest in mutually advantageous policies such as the revival of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership are not likely to succeed for the time being. Under the prevailing circumstances, trans-Atlantic disillusionment has settled in. A better approach than letting mutual acrimony languish would be to focus on a joint challenge — how to meet the resolute Chinese challenge to the industrial economies of the West. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s growing consolidation of power is giving ever more momentum to the ambitious Chinese plan to gain dominance of high-tech industries. This is nothing sho...

Topic:  Japan’s bounce is a parable of these economic times Writter:  DANIEL MOSS Publish Date:  21 December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times Japan’s bounce is a parable of these economic times BY DANIEL MOSS BLOOMBERG NEW YORK –  In a year of economic surprises, mostly good ones, Japan is right up there. The decades since the country’s asset bubble burst in the early 1990s have seen many false dawns, so no one was rushing to call this a new day. But it’s time. A fair number of economists are now forecasting that the Bank of Japan will begin formally withdrawing from the huge stimulus deployed to combat first deflation and, more recently, too-low inflation. A stealth taper has already occurred: Asset purchases under the BOJ’s quantitative easing program totaled about ¥60 trillion in the year through November, short of the annual target of ¥80 trillion. This one seems to have crept up on us. All of us. I’ve raised the topic ...

Topic:  China’s creditor imperialism Writter:  BRAHMA CHELLANEY Publish Date:  21 December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times China’s creditor imperialism BY BRAHMA CHELLANEY BERLIN –  This month, Sri Lanka, unable to pay the onerous debt to China it has accumulated, formally handed over its strategically located Hambantota port to the Asian giant. It was a major acquisition for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — which President Xi Jinping calls the “project of the century” — and proof of just how effective China’s debt-trap diplomacy can be. Unlike International Monetary Fund and World Bank lending, Chinese loans are collateralized by strategically important natural assets with high long-term value (even if they lack short-term commercial viability). Hambantota, for example, straddles Indian Ocean trade routes linking Europe, Africa and the Middle East to Asia. In exchange for financing and building the infrastructure that p...

Topic:  What the world can learn from Japan’s factories Writter:  MICHAEL SCHUMAN Publish Date:  20 December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times What the world can learn from Japan’s factories BY MICHAEL SCHUMAN BEIJING –  Reviving manufacturing has become a prime policy objective for national leaders from Washington to Beijing to New Delhi. We can debate whether chasing factories is worth the effort in the 21st century, but not the difficulty of building and maintaining a robust industrial sector in the face of relentless global competition and technological change. At least one country seems to have figured out how to do just that, however, and a highly unexpected one: Japan. Factories churning out cars, chips and Walkmans were the engines of Japan’s storied growth miracle back in the 1970s and 1980s. But like most other advanced economies, the importance of manufacturing in Japan’s economy has declined sharply over the pa...

Topic:  Yemen shows Guernica’s lessons went unlearned Writter:  CESAR CHELALA Publish Date:  20  December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times Yemen shows Guernica’s lessons went unlearned BY CESAR CHELALA NEW YORK –  On the market day of April 26, 1937, at the bequest of Spanish Gen. Francisco Franco, a bombing of the Basque town of Guernica took place. It was carried out by Spain’s nationalistic government allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe’s Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria. The attack, under the code name Operation Rugen, in which hundreds of people died, became a rallying cry against the brutal killing of innocent civilians. Eighty years later, however, an even more criminal action is being carried out against Yemeni civilians mainly by Saudi Arabia, with the complicity of the United States. The Yemeni civil war began in 2015 between two factions that claim to represent the Yemeni government...

Topic:  Sexism sucks, but blame capitalism more Writter:  TED RALL Publish Date:  20  December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times Sexism sucks, but blame capitalism more BY TED RALL NEW YORK –  One of the points many women have made since the beginning of the current national discussion about sexual assault and harassment has been that sexism and misogyny have cost women countless opportunities to achieve their full potential. Probably because this began with Harvey Weinstein, much of the mourning of opportunity costs focused on Hollywood: New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd mentioned her reaction to research she did on the topic: “I got more and more angry as I realized that these women were being systematically excluded based on ridiculous biases.” It’s an excellent, long-overdue point: Who could possibly count how many brilliant women have been denied high-profile roles as actors and directors and studio execu...

Topic:  Making Japanese small business thrive Writter:  JOEL HYATT Publish Date:  20  December 2017 Published on :  The Japan Times Making Japanese small business thrive MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA –  Japan and the European Union have concluded a new and wide-ranging trade deal that has been four years in the making. Many Japanese companies no doubt hope that this agreement will give their business a boost, while politicians hope it will help remedy some of the country’s economic problems. The agreement will create one of the largest global trade blocs in existence: Japan is the world’s fourth-largest export economy, and is already the EU’s second-biggest trading partner in Asia. Together, Japan and the EU account for around 30 percent of world gross domestic product. Unfortunately, Japan faces economic challenges that go beyond the scope of mere trade deals. Economic growth has stalled at around 1 percent for a number of years, and because th...