Despite the short-term disruptions to bilateral trade caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake, economic relations between Japan and China are likely to deepen once again over the long term, according to an expert on the Chinese economy.
After taking massive damage to their supply chains from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Japanese manufacturers will increasingly move to diversify their parts-supply networks overseas in the coming years, with China inevitably becoming their No. 1 choice, said Kwan Chi Hung, a senior fellow at the Nomura Institute of Capital Markets Research.
Kwan made the comments Tuesday at a seminar organized by the Keizai Koho Center on the prospects for the Chinese economy and their implications for Japan.