Japan Sets The Pace For Private Sector Economic Security Management

2025-05-05 03:15:19

(MENAFN- Asia Times) Japan continues to pace like-minded governments when making economic security policy. Successive administrations in Tokyo have made economic security a priority, passing legislation and adjusting the bureaucracy to realize those ambitions. Those efforts continue.

Governments concerned about economic security should be studying Japan's efforts and work with Tokyo to address these challenges. Only concerted efforts by countries alone and together can ensure economic security.

Of special significance are increasing efforts by the government to work with the private sector to increase awareness of economic security and hone private businesses' response to this challenge. These efforts, too, are pacing the world.

Japan, like other countries, has been forced to address threats to economic security. Its consciousness of those dangers preceded that of other governments. The country was subject to economic coercion – a cutoff of important rare earths exports from China – in 2010 after the arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain who illegally entered the waters surrounding the Senkaku islands. That incident shook Japanese decision-makers.

More significantly, it wasn't a one-off: Economic coercion became an increasingly frequent and favored tactic of Beijing.

The first step in the promotion of economic security by Tokyo was the creation in 2020 of an economic bureau in the National Security Secretariat. This move prompted ministries throughout the government to prioritize economic security as well; many of them established economic security offices to focus efforts.

Fumio Kishida, then the prime minister, picked up the pace during his administration. He made economic security a pillar of his government's growth strategy; his seriousness was clear in October 2022 when he established the position of minister in charge of economic security in his cabinet.

The same year, Japan passed the Economic Security Promotion Act (ESPA) with the aim of promoting Japan's economic security by ensuring its strategic autonomy and indispensability. The legislation has four pillars:

ensuring a stable supply of specific critical materials,
securing the stable provision of critical infrastructure,
supporting the development of specific critical technologies, and
implementing a secret patent system.

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