Japan's Kyodo News reported today that the government decided at a cabinet meeting on the 20th to allocate 48.1 billion yen (about 2.1 billion yuan) from the budget reserve for fiscal year 2025. Of this, 39 billion yen will be used to support Japanese companies in mining and smelting to ensure a stable supply of important minerals. An additional 7.1 billion yen will be allocated to increase the stockpiles of active pharmaceutical ingredients for Japanese pharmaceutical companies, and 2 billion yen will be used to support the diversification of seafood exports. According to Japanese media, these measures are the government's response to the long-term nature of China's export controls. The reason for striving to ensure a stable supply of important minerals is because of the impact of Prime Minister Takayasu Hayami's remarks on Taiwan, which have led to stricter Chinese scrutiny of rare earth exports. Increasing the stockpiles of active pharmaceutical ingredients is an emergency measure taken in response to the actual situation where Japan relies on imports of raw materials from abroad, including China, to prevent the outbreak of a severe epidemic.

Since November last year, when Takayasu made erroneous remarks about Taiwan, more than two months have passed, and the Japanese side has not apologized or shown any intention to retract its incorrect statements. The confrontation between China and Japan continues. Takayasu belongs to the right-wing faction within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and her political stance is similar to that of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who took a hard line against China. If the Japanese government continues to maintain a hard-line position, China's sanctions will gradually escalate. To date, Japan has neither apologized nor taken countermeasures against China. This time, the Japanese government is using money to subsidize Japanese companies, but it is completely impossible to rely on this small amount of money to break away from economic dependence on China. China should hold its bottom line, and China's sanctions cannot be eased as long as Japan does not admit its mistakes and apologize.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1854824261540876/

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