For Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, boosting economic security is one of the top items on his agenda, with the U.S.-China trade conflict as well as the coronavirus pandemic disrupting the global supply chains on which Japanese businesses rely.
“I will take measures to ensure we have the strategic technology and supplies, prevent technologies from flowing out of the country and create a self-sustaining economy,” Kishida said in a news conference Monday.
Tasked with the job is Takayuki Kobayashi, 46, a third-term Lower House lawmaker from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party who is well-versed in the topic and has taken on the newly established role of economic security minister.