With China likely to have been the only major country to achieve positive economic growth in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, fears are mounting that Japan will fall further behind the world's second-largest economy, particularly in digital technology.
Some foreign affairs experts are optimistic on China's rise in the digital field, saying it will provide commercial opportunities for Japanese companies — many of which have been bolstering their business relations with Chinese firms.
Others, however, have warned that unless Japan makes serious efforts to promote its own digital competency as a national strategy, the world's third-biggest economy could be swallowed up by China's more influential platform in the not-so-distant future.