Meeting with Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Embassy of Japan in China

2023-06-01 | Beijing

On 1st June, European Chamber President Jens Eskelund and Beijing Chapter General Manager Carl Hayward met with Tetsuro Fukunaga, Director General of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, as well as representatives of the Embassy of Japan in China.

Topics discussed：

  • Mr. Tetsuro Fukunaga, the director general for trade policy, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan informed the European Chamber the new president of Japanese Chamber of Commerce in China and encouraged more cooperation between the Japanese and European chambers.
  • Mr. Tetsuro Fukunaga raised a couple of the main challenges Japanese companies are facing in China, including how to deal with Party cells, China’s localisation policies as well as detentions of business people.
  • President Eskelund recognised the issues raised, and said the most important thing is to ensure that foreign chambers are aligned on common issues, so that messaging to Chinese government is clear and coherent.
  • President Eskelund also introduced the Chamber’s current focus on the topic of de-risking, noting it is important to de-risk only in areas where it is critical, while identifying areas to deepen cooperation. He noted that asymmetric trade flows between EU-China is of particular concern and could risk becoming a political issue.
  • Mr. Tetsuro Fukunaga raised the issue of the semiconductor export controls that Japan has imposed, and noted that the decision was taken independently of the US as a move to secure the trade of chips, but said there is a real concern China will see it as an area for retaliation.
  • Mr. Tetsuro Fukunaga again emphasised that foreign chambers need to work together, particularly with some of the ‘smaller’ chambers feeling exposed if they speak up on sensitive issues. He said that the Japanese Government is looking to engage in more PPPs with like-minded partners. Fukunaga also mentioned that when he and his colleague, Ueno, were based in Brussels, they were both big ‘fans’ of the European Chamber’s Brussels Tour, and said that he would like to see the Japanese Chamber in China replicate this idea in Tokyo.
  • President Eskelund noted that in terms of potential Chinese retaliation, ‘the West’, and he included Japan and Korea, need to be more confident in their positions – the amount of goods that China exports to these markets means that it is heavily reliant upon them, and therefore these markets have more leverage than they may think. President Eskelund said that provided the approach is fact-based, chambers should be able to tell China the areas in which it is not playing fair, or where red lines are not reasonable.
  • During the meeting, Mr. Hideo Kawabuchi, the counsellor of Embassy of Japan in China, gave a presentation on China’s state-led industrial policy, including areas that could be potential ‘choke-points’ on foreign supply chains in the future, and a discussion on this followed.
  • President Eskelund thanked all counterparts for their interesting presentation and said that it would be good to know how both sides could use the information in future government engagements and in business intelligence for members companies. He also noted that it would be good to have similar analysis of the EV market.