Chinese Govt Prohibits Fishing Boats from Activities around Senkaku Islands; Ban in Area Set to Expire on Saturday
The order is apparently aimed at avoiding an excessive rise in tension between Japan and China.
According to the newspaper's report, a meeting was held between authorities and fishing industry representatives on Aug. 8. The authorities demanded strict adherence to a red line in sensitive sea areas and no illegal activities in order to maintain order and stability.
In July, the China Coast Guard and Chinese public security authorities had issued a notice stating that they would strengthen patrols in sensitive sea areas and strictly manage fishing boats that cross the red line.
In August 2016, hundreds of Chinese fishing boats crowded into sea areas around the Senkaku Islands, raising tension between the two countries. However, it remains unclear whether the authorities' directions will be strictly enforced.
A fisherman who was preparing to set sail from a fishing port in Shishi on Tuesday told The Yomiuri Shimbun that Diaoyu Islands, the Chinese name for the Senkaku Islands, has abundant fish, so he might go fishing there, indicating the possibility of fishing activities occurring around the Senkaku Islands.
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Japan Today
42 minutes ago
- Japan Today
Vietnam wants to be next Asian tiger and it's overhauling its economy to make it happen.
By ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL Beneath red banners and a gold bust of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi's central party school, Communist Party chief To Lam declared the arrival of 'a new era of development' late last year. The speech was more than symbolic— it signaled the launch of what could be Vietnam's most ambitious economic overhaul in decades. Vietnam aims to get rich by 2045 and become Asia's next 'tiger economy' — a term used to describe the earlier ascent of countries like South Korea and Taiwan. The challenge ahead is steep: Reconciling growth with overdue reforms, an aging population, climate risks and creaking institutions. There's added pressure from President Donald Trump over Vietnam's trade surplus with the U.S., a reflection of its astounding economic trajectory. In 1990, the average Vietnamese could afford about $1,200 worth of goods and services a year, adjusted for local prices. Today, that figure has risen by more than 13 times to $16,385. Vietnam's transformation into a global manufacturing hub with shiny new highways, high-rise skylines and a booming middle class has lifted millions of its people from poverty, similar to China. But its low-cost, export-led boom is slowing, while the proposed reforms — expanding private industries, strengthening social protections, and investing in tech, green energy. It faces a growing obstacle in climate change. 'It's all hands on can't waste time anymore," said Mimi Vu of the consultancy Raise Partners. Investment has soared, driven partly by U.S.-China trade tensions, and the U.S. is now Vietnam's biggest export market. Once-quiet suburbs have been replaced with industrial parks where trucks rumble through sprawling logistics hubs that serve global brands. Vietnam ran a $123.5 billion trade surplus with the U.S. trade in 2024, angering Trump, who threatened a 46% U.S. import tax on Vietnamese goods. The two sides appear to have settled on a 20% levy, and twice that for goods suspected of being transshipped, or routed through Vietnam to avoid U.S. trade restrictions. During negotiations with the Trump administration, Vietnam's focus was on its tariffs compared to those of its neighbors and competitors, said Daniel Kritenbrink, a former U.S. ambassador to Vietnam. 'As long as they're in the same zone, in the same ballpark, I think Vietnam can live with that outcome," he said. But he added questions remain over how much Chinese content in those exports might be too much and how such goods will be taxed. Vietnam was preparing to shift its economic policies even before Trump's tariffs threatened its model of churning out low-cost exports for the world, aware of what economists call the 'middle-income trap,' when economies tend to plateau without major reforms. To move beyond that, South Korea bet on electronics, Taiwan on semiconductors, and Singapore on finance, said Richard McClellan, founder of the consultancy RMAC Advisory. But Vietnam's economy today is more diverse and complex than those countries were at the time and it can't rely on just one winning sector to drive long-term growth and stay competitive as wages rise and cheap labor is no longer its main advantage. It needs to make 'multiple big bets,' McClellan said. Following China's lead, Vietnam is counting on high-tech sectors like computer chips, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, providing strategic tax breaks and research support in cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang. It's also investing heavily in infrastructure, including civilian nuclear plants and a $67 billion North–South high-speed railway, that will cut travel time from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City to eight hours. Vietnam also aspires to become a global financial center. The government plans two special financial centers, in bustling Ho Chi Minh City and in the seaside resort city of Danang, with simplified rules to attract foreign investors, tax breaks, support for financial tech startups, and easier ways to settle business disputes. Underpinning all of this is institutional reform. Ministries are being merged, low-level bureaucracies have been eliminated and Vietnam's 63 provinces will be consolidated into 34 to build regional centers with deeper talent pools. Vietnam is counting on private businesses to lead its new economic push — a seismic shift from the past. In May, the Communist Party passed Resolution 68. It calls private businesses the 'most important force' in the economy, pledging to break away from domination by state-owned and foreign companies. So far, large multinationals have powered Vietnam's exports, using imported materials and parts and low cost local labor. Local companies are stuck at the low-end of supply chains, struggling to access loans and markets that favored the 700-odd state-owned giants, from colonial-era beer factories with arched windows to unfashionable state-run shops that few customers bother to enter. 'The private sector remains heavily constrained," said Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapore's ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. Again emulating China, Vietnam wants 'national champions' to drive innovation and compete globally, not by picking winners, but by letting markets decide. The policy includes easier loans for companies investing in new technology, priority in government contracts for those meeting innovation goals, and help for firms looking to expand overseas. Even mega-projects like the North-South High-Speed Rail, once reserved for state-run giants, are now open to private bidding. By 2030, Vietnam hopes to elevate at least 20 private firms to a global scale. But Giang warned that there will be pushback from conservatives in the Communist Party and from those who benefit from state-owned firms. Even as political resistance threatens to stall reforms, climate threats require urgent action. After losing a major investor over flood risks, Bruno Jaspaert knew something had to change. His firm, DEEP C Industrial Zones, houses more than 150 factories across northern Vietnam. So it hired a consultancy to redesign flood resilience plans. Climate risk is becoming its own kind of market regulation, forcing businesses to plan better, build smarter, and adapt faster. 'If the whole world will decide it's a can go very fast,' said Jaspaert. When Typhoon Yagi hit last year, causing $1.6 billion in damage, knocking 0.15% off Vietnam's GDP and battering factories that produce nearly half the country's economic output, roads in DEEP C industrial parks stayed dry. Climate risks are no longer theoretical: If Vietnam doesn't take strong action to adapt to and reduce climate change, the country could lose 12–14.5% of its GDP each year by 2050, and up to one million people could fall into extreme poverty by 2030, according to the World Bank. Meanwhile, Vietnam is growing old before it gets rich. The country's 'golden population' window — when working-age people outnumber dependents — will close by 2039 and the labor force is projected to peak just three years later. That could shrink productivity and strain social services, especially since families — and women in particular — are the default caregivers, said Teerawichitchainan Bussarawan of the Centre for Family and Population Research at the National University of Singapore. Vietnam is racing to pre-empt the fallout by expanding access to preventive healthcare so older adults remain healthier and more independent. Gradually raising the retirement age and drawing more women into the formal workforce would help offset labor gaps and promote "healthy aging,' Bussarawan said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Yomiuri Shimbun
10 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
China Announces Birth-Rate Boosting Measures Including Free Pre-School Education, Some Say More Needs to be Done
SHENYANG, China — The Chinese government has announced plans to gradually make pre-school education free of charge and provide childcare subsidies, in an effort to reduce the burden on the child-rearing generation and improve the birth rate, which has undergone a period of significant decline. Some companies seemingly view the subsidies as an opportunity to raise prices of their baby products, leading to call for more comprehensive measures. According to an announcement by the Chinese government, tuitions fees for older students at public kindergartens will be waived from the start of the coming academic year this autumn. Private kindergartens also plan to reduce fees based on the level of waivers at public kindergartens. The Chinese government revealed at the National People's Congress, China's parliament, in March that it would gradually make pre-school education free, with an estimated 12 million children to be made eligible this year. Under the childcare subsidy, the government will provide 3,600 yuan (about ¥74,000) per year per child under 3, and applications for it are expected to be possible from as early as this month. According to the state-run Xinhua News Agency, some local governments have previously provided such subsidies, but most were targeted at second and third children. A government official in charge of measures to combat the declining birth rate emphasized the significance of providing a uniform subsidy to parents nationwide regardless of the number of children and demonstrated the nation's commitment to tackling the issue. 'By including only-child households in the subsidy program, benefits will be brought to all child-rearing households,' the official said at a press conference at the end of July. The Xi Jinping administration rush to implement such measure is drive by the rapid decline in China's birth rate. The number of births in 2024 was 9.54 million, an increase of 520,000 from the previous year, but it is not even half the most recent peak in 2016. Rising education costs and a slowing economy are said to be behind the decline, making young people more reluctant to get married and have children. Parents bemoan price hikes While some have praised the government's proposed measures as a way to better conserve household budgets, others have pointed out that it is not generous enough. The increasing number of elementary school children attending cram schools in preparation for university entrance exams is making the monetary burden of raising children more difficult to bear. There have been a series of reports on social media that prices of powdered milk and diapers have risen. It is believed that some businesses have been raising the prices of their baby products in anticipation of the subsidies. People who have children are expressing dissatisfaction, saying it makes the subsidies pointless. Xinhua News Agency in an Aug. 9 article called for strict disciplinary action against businesses which unfairly inflate prices.
11 hours ago
Taiwan Foreign Chief's Visit Affecting Japan-China Relations
News from Japan Politics Aug 16, 2025 13:38 (JST) Tokyo, Aug. 16 (Jiji Press)--Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-Lung's latest trip to Japan has affected Japan-China ties, with Beijing canceling at the last minute a bilateral meeting of agriculture ministers. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi avoided going into detail in a press conference on Friday, stating only, "We understand that (the ministerial meeting) was not held due to scheduling conflicts of both sides." Chinese agriculture minister Han Jun was set to visit Japan to hold a meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Shinjiro Koizumi, on Tuesday, after a trilateral agriculture ministers' meeting involving the two nations plus South Korea held in Incheon near South Korea's capital, Seoul, on Monday. Many within the Japanese government consider Lin's Japan visit in late July to be the reason for the cancellation. The Taiwanese side has said that the foreign chief had made a personal visit to Japan. During the trip, however, he held talks with Keiji Furuya of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who heads a suprapartisan group of Japanese lawmakers aiming for stronger Tokyo-Taipei relations, and other Japanese officials. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
