Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet on Friday approved a bill to boost Japan’s economic security in a bid to abate risks associated with rapidly changing geopolitical and geoeconomic circumstances.
Improving economic security is one of the primary policy agendas proposed by Kishida amid the growing rivalry between the United States and China, while the coronavirus pandemic has also prompted the government to rethink the country’s supply chain strategy.
The bill mainly focuses on four areas: strengthening the security of key infrastructure, reinforcing supply chain stability, facilitating public-private cooperation on developing cutting-edge technology and keeping patents on sensitive technologies secret.