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Japan should position self as global 'trouble shooter': govt
Tokyo (AFP) June 19, 2009 With China likely to soon overtake Japan as the world's number two economy, Tokyo should follow a new growth path as a "trouble shooter" on climate and other global issues, a government report said Friday. "The Japanese economy's share in the world has been declining... Japan's status as 'the world's second largest economy' is drawing to an end," the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry admitted in an annual report. The International Monetary Fund has predicted China's gross domestic product will exceed Japan in 2010, it noted, saying its Asian neighbour could even take second spot this year if it achieves high growth and Japan stays in recession. Japan's economy contracted an annualised 14.2 percent in the first three months of 2009, its worst performance on record, although Tokyo said this week it believed the economy had hit bottom. The trade ministry report recommended Japan take on reforms to prevent a further decline as a national power. "Japan for the first time finds itself in the position of being caught up with and surpassed," the report said, noting that since opening up 150 years ago, and again after World War II, it had sought to match up to the West. The report said the United States and Europe had experienced similar hardship in the 1970s and 80s, but they have achieved growth through innovation in information technology and the financial fields. The ministry proposed Japan seeks to become "a trouble-shooting nation for global issues" by providing solar power and energy-saving systems to other countries and by funding infrastructure in financially strapped economies. The report also warned against protectionism on the back of the global economic slump. "The temptation for protectionism always grows when the economy worsens, but we must not repeat the history of protectionism reducing world trade, triggering global recession and then World War II," it said. An official at the ministry, meanwhile, said Japan was watching China's trade policy following Beijing's call for preferential treatment for domestic firms in a "Buy Chinese" campaign in public spending. "It would be natural for us to look into the case if a Japanese company complained of unfair treatment," he said, adding that the ministry had also been watching other countries' trade practices. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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India asks US, China to restart stalled Doha roundWashington (AFP) June 18, 2009 India on Thursday called on the United States, China and other powers to return to talks immediately to frame a world trade accord instead of waiting for recovery from the global economic crisis. "We live in times when the people are anxious. This economic challenge cannot be resolved by waiting and watching," Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said in Washington."It can also not ... read more |
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