Takaichi Sanae’s US$135B Shot at Reviving Japan’s Economy
Prime minister Takaichi Sanae is on a mission to revive Japan’s economy. Her strategic, debt-funded US$135B stimulus package seeks to boost 17 targeted areas – including AI, semiconductors and defense. Amid tensions with Beijing, gargantuan national debt and an announced snap election, will this yield the numbers she’s banking on? All the while, tensions between Japan and China could open a door for Taiwan. As Japan plans to derisk ties to its largest trading partner without completely decoupling, it looks to Taiwan as a like-minded neighbor and economic partner. Akira Igata (project lecturer at the University of Tokyo) and Tsai Hsi-Hsun (professor at Tamkang University) tell us why closer Japan-Taiwan ties would bolster key tech industries like semiconductors and AI in the face of an increasingly belligerent Beijing.
