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Asian giants China, Japan vow to boost global recovery

China, Japan pledge to boost global economic recovery
China and Japan on Sunday vowed to jointly promote world economic recovery during a meeting of top ministers and senior officials in Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said. "On the global economic and financial crisis, both countries agreed to implement what was agreed at the London summit swiftly and in a solid manner in order to realise the global economic recovery as soon as possible," he said. At their London summit in April, the Group of 20 developed and emerging economies agreed to commit one trillion dollars to the International Monetary Fund and other global bodies to help struggling economies. They also agreed to push for greater regulation of the global financial system to tackle the deepest global crisis in decades. Nakasone was speaking after a day of talks with a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Qishan that aimed to boost trade and cooperation between Japan and China, the world's second and third biggest economies respectively. Wang said at their joint press conference: "Both sides underline the need to assume a consistent and responsible attitude to step up regional and international economic and financial cooperation." Nakasone also said both countries would "cooperate in domestic economic measures, in actively supporting developing countries in Asia through international financial institutions, and in preventing protectionism." Both China and Japan called for an early conclusion to the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks under the World Trade Organisation "so that the global economy will return onto a track of sustainable growth," Nakasone said. Wang confirmed that "we will work together with the rest of the world for a comprehensive and balanced outcome of the WTO Doha development round talks as early as possible while opposing trade and investment protectionism."
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) June 7, 2009
Global economic giants Japan and China Sunday pledged to throw their combined weight behind efforts to revive the struggling world economy after talks aimed at boosting trade between the two powers.

The world's second and third largest economies also called for a resumption of stalled international talks to free up global trade and said they would launch joint assistance programmes for developing countries for the first time.

"On the global economic and financial crisis, both countries agreed to implement what was agreed at the London summit swiftly and in a solid manner in order to realise the global economic recovery as soon as possible," said Japan's delegation leader, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone.

At their London summit in April, the Group of 20 developed and major emerging economies agreed to commit one trillion dollars to the International Monetary Fund and other global bodies to help struggling economies.

The G20 also said it would push for greater regulation of the global financial system to tackle the world's deepest economic crisis in decades, which has plunged Japan into recession and dented China's stellar growth.

"Both sides underline the need to assume a consistent and responsible attitude to step up regional and international economic and financial cooperation," China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan said at a news conference with Nakasone.

They were speaking after the second Japan-China High-Level Economic Dialogue, aimed at boosting trade and investment between the two nations, who are top trade partners but also economic rivals and competitors for resources.

Japan, a high-tech and environmental technology leader, and China, the world's most populous country with a vast and cheap labour force, hope to increasingly join their economic forces for mutual benefit, experts have said.

"We want to enhance bilateral trade ties further under this grand policy of forming strategic, mutually beneficial relations," said Wang, who was leading the Chinese delegation.

Both China and Japan also called for an early conclusion to the Doha Round of trade talks under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) "so that the global economy will return onto a track of sustainable growth," Nakasone said.

And they pledged to jointly give development assistance to developing countries, although they provided no details.

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the Export-Import Bank of China agreed to "cooperate in foreign development aid to give financial support" to third countries, Japan's foreign ministry said.

The two nations also tackled the thorny issue of their different views on how to deal with North Korea over its recent nuclear and missile tests.

China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi reiterated Beijing's call for "an appropriate and balanced" UN Security Council resolution.

Beijing, one of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members, has in the past blunted calls led by Washington and Tokyo for strong punishment of the isolated fellow communist country that neighbours China.

Tokyo has pushed strongly for tougher sanctions that may include ship cargo inspections, a tighter arms embargo and new financial restrictions.

Nakasone told Yang that "China's role as a regional power and a country with close ties with North Korea is great in this issue."

China and Japan also addressed the rampant production of knock-off goods in Chinese factories that has hurt Japanese companies, and agreed to launch annual talks on jointly cracking down on copyright and trademark piracy.

Japan also reiterated that China should scrap a plan to examine and certify more than a dozen types of IT products, including anti-hacking software, before foreign firms can sell them to China's government.

The United States, Japan and other major IT manufacturers fear that China will use the process to learn software trade secrets.

earlier related report
Japan's Sharp sees hopes in China, uncertainty in US, Europe
Japanese electronics giant Sharp Corp. said Friday it aimed to expand its presence in China but expected continued weakness in Europe and the United States.

The company, known particularly for its liquid crystal displays and solar power cells, said it aimed to become the top TV brand in China and promised to build a factory there.

"We have been talking with our partners" about a plant in China, president Mikio Katayama told journalists in Tokyo. "We want to make high quality products at low cost in China," he said without giving details.

The company, maker of the popular AQUOS brand of LCD televisions, expects to return to profit this fiscal year to March, after suffering its first annual loss last year amid the global economic slump.

Katayama said Japan and China provided opportunities, thanks to swift and massive government stimulus measures, in addition to the robust purchasing power of the Chinese middle class.

Sharp hopes to sell 1.2 million LCD televisions in China in the year to March as part of a worldwide target of 10 million units sold worldwide. The company sold 1.04 million LCD televisions in China in the last fiscal year.

The company has focused on building itself into a premium brand in China and has worked to get its products certified for Beijing's new programme to subsidise home appliance purchases in rural communities, he said.

The opportunities for the company in China contrast with those in more mature markets such as Western Europe, said Katayama.

"We cannot be aggressive in places where our brand strength is not established," he said. "But we plan to stay aggressive in areas where we are strong.

"Western Europe is not a place where our brand strength is. Europe was leading the global market until the economic crisis. But now we cannot find banks that would finance our projects in Europe."

The immediate outlook for the United States and Europe was uncertain due mainly to continued financial woes, although they remained important markets for long-term strategies, Katayama said.

The United States provided a "complex" outlook for the company because of the strength of various rival companies already well positioned there, as well as the unclear scope of the Green New Deal initiative, Katayama added.

US President Barack Obama's Green New Deal refers to public spending that aims to reinvigorate the recession-hit US economy and create jobs while also bolstering alternative energies and energy efficient technologies.

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