Although the coronavirus pandemic exposed the risks of Japan’s dependence on China and prompted the Japanese government to encourage the return and diversification of production bases, 90 percent of Japanese companies operating in China said they had no plans to change their supply chains or locations.
Takashi Kadota warns that business leaders prioritising profits in the Chinese market and researchers involved in technology transfers and China’s Thousand Talents Plan could contribute to China’s military expansion and ultimately endanger Japan.
Ninety Percent of Japanese Companies in China Have No Plans to Withdraw――Businesspeople and Researchers Who Will Destroy Japan
June 30, 2020
When the East China Regional Japanese Chamber of Commerce Council surveyed 710 member companies, an astonishing 90 percent replied that they had “no” plans to change their supply chains or business locations.
The following is taken from Takashi Kadota’s regular column entitled “Businesspeople and Researchers Who Will ‘Destroy Japan,’” published in the monthly magazine Hanada.
The monthly magazine Hanada is essential reading not only for the Japanese people but also for people throughout the world.
Anyone who has not yet subscribed should immediately head to the nearest bookstore.
That is because it is filled with genuine essays such as this one.
And yet, it costs only 950 yen, including consumption tax.
Since January of this year, I have spent five months relentlessly following and investigating the coronavirus and turning my findings into written articles.
I recently published Plague 2020 through Sankei Shimbun Publications.
Throughout all this work, what concerned me most was the thought that Japanese businesspeople and researchers would eventually “destroy Japan.”
I kept wondering whether these people believed that, for the sake of profits, financial gain, or personal ambition, “it would not matter even if their mother country disappeared.”
The fact that the Japanese economy ground to a halt as soon as the Chinese economy stopped because of the spread of the coronavirus must have shocked the Japanese people.
Although we understood that Japan depended on China, we had never imagined that the dependence had reached “this extent.”
Recognising the seriousness of the situation, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe convened a meeting of the Council on Investments for the Future on March 5 and stated:
“For products whose supply chains are highly dependent on a single country and which also have high added value, we will encourage production bases to return to Japan.
For other products as well, we will promote the diversification of production bases to ASEAN countries and elsewhere, rather than depending on a single country.”
The government demonstrated its determination by including 220 billion yen in subsidies in the fiscal 2020 supplementary budget to encourage production bases to return to Japan.
In other words, it amounted to a government directive to “withdraw from China.”
However, I was astonished when I saw the results of a survey conducted by JETRO in the following April among companies operating in China.
When the East China Regional Japanese Chamber of Commerce Council surveyed 710 member companies, an astonishing 90 percent replied that they had “no” plans to change their supply chains or business locations.
As demonstrated by the anti-Japanese riots over history textbooks in 2005 and the demonstrations against Japan’s nationalisation of the Senkaku Islands in 2012, companies operating in China have invariably suffered serious losses whenever “something” has occurred.
What is now happening in the world, however, is entirely different from the previous disturbances triggered by temporary political developments or individual events.
China has become an uncontrollable hegemonic power.
The international community must now confront this monster, which tramples upon freedom, human rights, and democracy and openly attempts to change the status quo by force, in order to defend universal values.
Australia demanded an independent investigation into the coronavirus outbreak and has consequently been subjected to blatant Chinese retaliation, including restrictions on imports of Australian beef, higher tariffs on barley, and measures discouraging Chinese citizens from travelling to Australia.
Nevertheless, Australia shows no sign of backing down.
Behind its stance lies the firm conviction that “defeat here would mean the death of freedom and democracy.”
What, then, of Japan?
Despite the policy announced by Prime Minister Abe, Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of Keidanren, made the following statement at a regular press conference on June 8:
“Japan needs to maintain good relations with China, which is an important market.
Keidanren will continue its active dialogue with the business communities of both countries and contribute to economic development through initiatives involving the Belt and Road Initiative and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”
This statement reflects the mentality of a merchant who believes that “nothing matters as long as there is a profit.”
It displays no awareness whatsoever of global trends, the government’s intentions, or the universal values that people living in a free society should uphold.
Developments in the world, however, are alarming.
The United States has already strengthened its monitoring of companies that provide China with technology capable of military application.
Japanese companies are, of course, no exception.
Among the companies under scrutiny is Toyota Motor Corporation, which boasts consolidated profits of two trillion yen.
China has taken an interest in Toyota’s fuel-cell technology and seeks to apply it to drones.
In response, Toyota is attempting to contribute to China through joint research with Tsinghua University.
But how would the United States respond if Toyota’s fuel-cell technology were used to extend dramatically the range of drones and enable them to demonstrate enormous military power as weapons or reconnaissance devices?
One need only imagine large numbers of drones flying over Japan or the United States.
We must also remember that such technologies are being developed by people recruited with exceptionally generous treatment under China’s Thousand Talents Plan, which invites foreign researchers in advanced technologies and university professors.
Living in high-rise apartments equipped with heated swimming pools and gyms, and provided with attractive female secretaries dispatched by the Public Security Bureau, they enthusiastically produce research results for China.
The organisation serving as the point of contact for them is the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
A situation that will leave Japan’s complacent business and academic worlds with regrets beyond measure—a repetition of the Toshiba Machine COCOM violation incident—is already “just around the corner.”
Those who fail to understand that we are now standing at a turning point in history and who assist the side that crushes freedom and human rights cannot be condemned too severely.