Bitcoin, the most expensive asset of the crypto sector, is seemingly grabbing the attention of Japan’s pension fund. The largest pension fund in Japan is considering diversifying investment portfolios, splitting focus from traditional assets. The information was disclosed by Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) this week. Bitcoin’s appeal is not going unnoticeable by GPIF now that it is undergoing a bull run with its price fluctuating between $66,000 (roughly Rs. 54 lakh) and $73,000 (roughly Rs. 60.5 lakh).
Japan’s GPIF is estimated to have $1.4 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,16,22,086 crore) worth of assets under its control. As per Spain’s investment research firm RankiaPro, GPIF has been the world’s largest pension fund since 2022.
Moving forward, the GPIF is exploring changes it can incorporate to deal with the evolving financial landscape. The organisation is launching a research programme that will span five years during which it will study other considerable potential investment tools.
GPIF’s document outlining its BTC-friendly research plans, published in Japanese, says that the assets currently considered by the firm as assets to be managed are farmland, gold, Bitcoin among others.
Up until now, the body has limited investment options into traditional assets like domestic and international stocks, bonds – aiming to minimise financial risks and ensure stable returns.
GPIF’s interest in exploring Bitcoin as an investment option comes as a result of persistent demands around including the digital asset, a report by Crypto.news said.
The crypto market in Japan has shown a notable growth in the last year. Towards the end of 2023, it was estimated that over five million Japanese residents held cryptocurrencies.
The Japanese government, under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, is taking a supportive approach towards the crypto sector. In January this year, Japanese e-commerce major Mercari reportedly said it planning to accept Bitcoin payment in the coming months.
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South Korea’s low birthrate has been declared a national emergency despite its government’s efforts to incentivise people into parenthood by paying 2 million won ($1,510) on the birth of each child as well as providing a host of other benefits to parents.
The country is one of several in East and Southeast Asia where birthrates have declined rapidly in recent years. Indeed, all five of the countries with the world’s lowest birthrates (stripping out Ukraine, which is undergoing a war) are in East Asia, according to a 2023 CIA report.
What is causing this, and why does it matter so much?
Which countries have the lowest birthrates?
South Korea, which already had one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, has experienced yet another drop in its birthrate.
Last month, Statistics Korea published data showing that the country’s birthrate has dropped by 8 percent in 2023 to 0.72 compared with 2022 when it was 0.78. The birthrate refers to the number of children the average woman will have during her lifetime.
Experts are warning that South Korea’s population of 51 million people may halve by 2100 if this rate of decline continues.
According to the 2023 CIA publication comparing fertility rates around the world, the birthrate decline is much sharper in East Asia than any other region.
The CIA’s report puts South Korea’s birthrate a little higher than the country’s own estimate – at 1.11. However, this is still the second-lowest in the world.
According to the CIA report, the birthrate in self-governed Taiwan is the lowest in the world at just 1.09 while in Singapore and Hong Kong, the birthrates are 1.17 and 1.23, respectively.
China, where a strict one-child policy was in place from 1980 to 2015, has a birthrate of 1.45. Japan, which has been facing the issue of an ageing population for some time, has a birthrate of 1.39.
These figures are in stark contrast to other parts of the world. The 10 countries with the highest birthrates are all in Africa. Niger is the highest at 6.73, followed by Angola at 5.76.
In the West, birthrates are much lower than this but still higher than East Asia. In the United States, it is 1.84 while it is 1.58 in Germany.
Why are birthrates in East Asia dropping?
While demographers refer to the birthrate as the fertility rate, this term encompasses those who choose not to have children as well as those who are unable to have children.
There are several reasons for the decline in Asia.
Economic growth and improving living conditions have reduced child mortality rates, and since more children are expected to live into adulthood, this has led to couples having fewer children, said analysts at the East-West Center, an international research organisation.
The analysts explained in an article in Time magazine that economic growth and educational opportunities for women have also led them to resist traditional roles, such as housewife and mother. As a result, they may “choose to avoid marriage and childbearing altogether”.
However, Ayo Wahlberg, a professor in the anthropology department at the University of Copenhagen, told Al Jazeera that this explanation is an “incomplete description of what’s going on”. While there may be a correlation between more women being employed and lower birthrates, Wahlberg said both men and women are working longer hours than they did in the past, giving them less time and energy to dedicate to childcare.
He cited the example of China’s “996 working hour system”, under which some companies expect people to work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. Wahlberg added that in South Korea, the working conditions are similarly stringent. “When are you going to have the time to look after a child in such cases?” he asked.
He also pointed out that in many countries, the burden of housework and childcare falls more heavily on women than men. Additionally, women experience pregnancy-based discrimination in the workplace if companies decide to avoid hiring an employee who will need to take maternity leave.
Women in East Asia face some of the worst gender pay gaps among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Additionally, they are aware that taking maternity leave could harm their chances of promotion and progression in their careers. Therefore, they decide not have children despite family or societal pressures to do so, he said.
“Is that selfish? I think it’s more being very rational about a very unacceptable situation,” Wahlberg said.
Both women and men are also deciding not to have children as part of an emerging movement that has deep concerns about climate change.
Why is a declining birthrate a problem?
Low birthrates will ultimately lead to population declines. Wahlberg said, to replace and maintain current populations, a birthrate of 2.1 is required.
A declining birthrate could have disastrous economic consequences.
Many countries are facing labour shortages and are struggling under the demands of an ageing population. With improvements and developments in health and science in recent decades, life expectancy has risen sharply, which raises concerns about people growing into old age in a society that does not have enough young people to take care of them.
The burden on younger people to support a much larger, aged population who are no longer working could also become intolerable, according to a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center in the United States, which concluded that income and sales taxes could have to rise steeply in the future to compensate.
An abandoned school swimming pool at Shijimi Junior High School in Miki, Japan, which closed three years ago due to a lack of demand. Japan’s birthrate is falling faster than expected, and school closings have accelerated, especially in rural areas [Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images]
What is the solution in East Asia?
East Asian countries are trying to increase fertility rates by incentivising women to have more children.
In Japan, where schools have been closing at a rate of more than 475 per year since 2002 due to a lack of students, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made the sliding birthrate a priority. “The youth population will start decreasing drastically in the 2030s. The period of time until then is our last chance to reverse the trend of dwindling births,” he said while visiting a daycare facility in June.
Despite high levels of debt, his government has announced plans to spend 3.5 trillion yen ($25bn) a year on childcare and other measures to support parents and encourage people towards parenthood.
In South Korea, more than 360 trillion won ($270bn) has been spent in areas such as childcare subsidies since 2006.
China has done away with its one-child policy. From 2016 to 2021, the country moved to a two-child policy. Now, a three-child policy is in place.
Reversing the one-child rule has so far been unsuccessful in China, where the birthrate continues to fall.
Due to the unequal burden of childcare placed on women, most women in China do not want a third child, according to research by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership. Furthermore, in a survey conducted by the job search website Zhilian Zhaopin in 2022, only 0.8 percent of respondents said they wanted to have three children.
A potential solution other than increasing the birthrate is for Asian countries to open up to more immigration to end or reduce labour shortages. Japan, the only major developed nation that has historically kept its doors closed to immigrants, did this in 2018 when its parliament approved a new law under which up to 300,000 foreigners could be granted one of two new visas depending on their labour skills and proficiency in Japanese.
Tokyo, Japan – For foreigners in Japan, permanent residency has long been a much sought-after assurance of security in a country that has historically shunned mass immigration.
But proposals by Tokyo to cancel the permanent residence status for those who fail to pay their taxes and social insurance contributions are now calling that security into question, stirring unease among some longtime foreign residents.
Ben Shearon, a British native who has lived in Japan for almost 24 years, is among those questioning the rationale behind the proposed changes to immigration law.
A permanent resident, Shearon retired in 2022 and now spends most of his time working on his website RetireJapan, where he offers coaching and financial advice to Japan’s expatriate population.
“I am not worried about my own status in Japan. I have paid all my taxes and I have also been paying into the national health insurance and public pension in Japan since I arrived,” Shearon told Al Jazeera.
“My main issue at the moment is that the headlines seem to feed a narrative that foreign residents, especially permanent residents, are not paying their fair share.”
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has raised the alarm about his country’s declining population [File: Eugene Hoshiko/AFP]
Under the standard process for obtaining permanent residency, applicants must have lived in Japan for at least 10 years and held a work visa for five of those years.
But since 2017, foreign residents have been able to fast-track the process to as little as one year if they score highly on a points-based assessment that looks at work experience, salary, academic qualifications, age and Japanese language proficiency.
The law also states that a foreigner’s permanent residence must be in the best interests of Japan, which includes paying taxes, pension contributions and health insurance premiums.
At present, the government can only revoke an individual’s permanent residence in a narrow set of circumstances, including being sentenced to more than one year in prison.
Under the proposals, authorities would be able to cancel residents’ visas over the non-payment of taxes and prison sentences of less than one year.
‘Small minority’
Shearon, like other foreign-born residents, is concerned that the proposals single out non-Japanese citizens for special scrutiny.
“I’m also not a fan of creating new penalties that only apply to foreigners when we already have laws and consequences for not paying tax that apply to everyone in Japan equally,” he said.
“If not paying health insurance or pension is a significant problem in Japan, then surely the way to address it is to strengthen enforcement for everyone, not just focus on a small number of a small minority.”
Permanent resident visa holders currently number about 880,000 in Japan, less than one percent of the population.
Since the announcement of the proposals last month, foreign residents reacting to the plans have generally fallen into one of two camps.
While some see Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration stoking xenophobia, others have scoffed at the suggestion foreigners are being singled out, arguing that tax evaders should be punished and only those seeking to game the system have anything to fear.
“What are these gaijin even complaining about? If you already pay your taxes, congratulations. You have nothing to worry about,” Oliver Jia, a Kyoto-based researcher and writer, said on X in response to a post decrying the proposals as discriminatory.
“Do these people realize that permanent residence by default means you have less rights than citizens? That’s how virtually every country on earth functions,” Jia added.
“Japan isn’t going to bend over backwards for you, especially because you’ve decided you don’t want to pay taxes. Unhinged.”
Austin Smith, public policy manager at GR Japan, a politically neutral government relations and advisory firm, said the proposed amendment would water down permanent residence status, but only to an extent.
“PR visa revocation will likely still be a rarity, but it will be more common than under the current system,” Smith told Al Jazeera.
“Still, even a slight increase in the likelihood of having one’s PR status revoked is bound to worry foreign residents, many of whom have built their lives around Japan.”
Smith said he believed the measures would most likely only be applied to those who knowingly committed tax evasion or crimes resulting in imprisonment.
“There are concerns, however, that this could affect those unable to pay taxes due to job loss or other factors,” Smith said. “Or that it could be expanded in the future to enable revocations for crimes resulting in fines.”
Japan’s workforce is shrinking rapidly due to its low birth rate [File: Eugene Hoshiko/AP]
The move comes despite a push by Japan to attract more immigrants as it faces rapid population decline.
In recent years, municipalities throughout Japan have simplified the pathway for obtaining visas for startup owners and business managers.
Later this month, Tokyo is set to launch a new digital nomad visa, targeting remote workers from 49 countries who earn more than 10 million yen a year.
Japan’s foreign trainee programme, which has often been maligned as a cover for importing cheap labour since its introduction in 1993, is undergoing a sweeping overhaul to make it easier to transition to being a skilled work visa holder, and, eventually, permanent resident.
In late February, the government also eased visa regulations to allow more foreign students to find jobs in Japan after they’ve completed their studies.
According to official forecasts, Japan’s population is on track to shrink from about 125 million to fewer than 80 million by 2070.
Policymakers see higher levels of immigration as one way to replenish the workforce and avoid a further slowdown in the country’s already meagre economic growth rate.
Smith said he is sympathetic to the need for more immigrants, but does not see the proposed changes to the permanent residency rules as necessarily in conflict with Japan’s turn towards pro-immigration policies.
“The goal here for lawmakers seems to be aligning PR visa revocation conditions with the guidelines for securing PR status,” he said.
“[But], I think Japan needs to make immigration more accessible to curb some of the negative impacts brought about by an ageing society … Japan will need to ensure its labour market is attractive to a wide range of potential workers from overseas and that its immigration system is flexible and welcoming.”
Japan is only G7 nation that excludes same-sex unions with conservative government criticised as stonewalling diversity.
A high court in Japan has ruled that the country’s ban on same-sex marriage is “unconstitutional” as pressure mounts for such unions to be legalised.
On Thursday, the Sapporo High Court said not allowing same-sex couples to marry violates their fundamental right to have a family, and called for urgent government action to address a lack of laws allowing same-sex unions.
A lower court in Tokyo issued a similar ruling earlier on Thursday, becoming the sixth district court to do so.
But the Tokyo District Court ruling was only a partial victory for Japan’s LGBTQ community calling for equal marriage rights, as it does not change or overturn the current civil union law that describes marriage as between a man and a woman.
Japan is the only member of the Group of Seven (G7) nations that still excludes same-sex couples from the right to legally marry and receive spousal benefits.
Support for marriage equality has grown among the Japanese public in recent years, but the governing Liberal Democratic Party, known for its conservative family values and reluctance to promote gender equality and sexual diversity, remains opposed to the campaign.
‘Groundbreaking’
Amnesty International said Thursday’s rulings were “groundbreaking”.
“The court decisions today mark a significant step towards achieving marriage equality in Japan. The ruling in Sapporo, the first High Court decision on same-sex marriage in the country, emphatically shows the trend towards acceptance of same-sex marriage in Japan,” said the group’s East Asia researcher Boram Jang.
“By recognizing that the government’s ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, these rulings make clear that such discrimination has no place in Japanese society,” the statement said, adding that the government now needs to be proactive in moving towards the legalisation of same-sex marriage so that couples can fully enjoy the same marriage rights as their heterosexual counterparts.
Japan: Groundbreaking same-sex marriage rulings a long-awaited victory for LGBTI rights https://t.co/nq6MZT6Pyg
The high court does not have the power to overturn the constitution.
Five previous courts delivered varying rulings in the past two years before Thursday with some upholding the current law – while raising concerns about protecting individuals’ rights – and others ruling against it.
Dozens of advocacy groups have pushed for anti-discriminatory laws. About 8 percent of the more than 120 million population in Japan identify as being a sexual minority.
Views about same-sex marriage in Japan have shifted in recent years, with some 68 percent of the population saying they favour a law legalising it, according to a 2023 survey by the Pew Research Center.
Hundreds of municipalities throughout Japan allow same-sex couples to enter partnership agreements but their rights are limited.
Partners cannot inherit each other’s assets or have parental rights to each other’s children, hospital visits are not guaranteed, and spousal benefits cannot be collected.
Last July, the government passed a “fostering LGBTQ understanding” law that stipulates “there should be no unfair discrimination” against sexual minorities, but critics argue it is not strong enough.
“The law passed by the government last year to ‘promote understanding’ of LGBTI people is not enough,” Amnesty said. “There need to be concrete, legal measures in place to protect same-sex couples and the LGBTI community in Japan from all forms of discrimination.”
The CBDC concept in Japan, has not quite spread out to the residents there, new findings have shown. Less than 20 percent of Japan’s population is familiar with the term CBDC, claimed Kazuo Ueda, the governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ), during a recent speech. He also noted that another 20 percent Japanese residents, while having heard of something called a CBDC, did not know or understand its concept at all. Identifying this awareness-related issue, Ueda spoke at length about what CBDCs are and why they make for cost-effective alternatives for presently used cash notes.
In his speech, the BoJ governor backed the emergence of a national CBDC saying that it could facilitate faster payments of bigger denominations among noting other potential benefits. He also lauded that CBDCs need only digital wallet storages, as opposed to cash notes that require a physical storage locations.
“Retail CBDC has been explored in many countries, including Japan, on the premise that this would align with cash — in other words, banknotes and coins — in terms of their roles and functions as a means of payment. Cash is a direct liability of the central bank. This is in sharp contrast to existing digital payment methods,” Ueda said.
As per the BoJ governor – money has a nature of undergoing changes which is what is happening now with the onset of digital currencies like the CBDCs.
Built on blockchain networks and issued by the central banks, CBDCs are the virtual symbol of fiat currencies. The R&D and trials around CBDCs have been heated up around several parts of the world, especially in Asia.
Japan, last July, kicked off a series of discussions with 60 companies on a pilot programme for developing a digital yen. Several large Japanese banks as well as tech majors like Sony and Toyota’s Lawson were also made part of this project.
The Japanese CBDC entered its trial phase around April last year through where the BoJ wished to analyse the technical feasibility and use-cases of the digital yen. Japan could see a wider roll out of its digital JPY by 2026.
India, China, and Hong Kong are also rapidly working towards developing and deploying their respective CBDCs.
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Nikkei 225 gains as much as 1 percent after last month beating 1989 record.
Japan’s benchmark stock market index has smashed the 40,000 mark for the first time, continuing its comeback after decades of stagnation.
The Nikkei 225 gained 1 percent to 40,308.85 during morning trading on Monday, as investors took an upbeat view of Japanese firms following gains on Wall Street.
Tech shares including Tokyo Electron and Advantest were among the biggest gainers.
The Nikkei rose by more than 28 percent in 2023, beating the S&P 500 in a bumper year for the US stock market.
Last month, the benchmark index surpassed its 1989 record of 38,915.8, set as Japan’s economy was on the precipice of an asset crash that kicked off several “lost decades” of economic stagnation.
The Japanese stock market’s reviving fortunes come amid a sustained rally in US shares fuelled by excitement surrounding advances in artificial intelligence.
US tech companies have soared in value in recent months, with chipmaker Nvidia’s market capitalisation on Friday surpassing $2 trillion.
Japan’s overall economy has not matched the fortunes of its stock market, with structural challenges, including a shrinking population and rigid labour force, weighing on growth.
Japan’s economy last month officially entered recession, giving up its spot as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany.
In January, a Chinese ultranationalist vlogger – video blogger – came across red circular stickers on the glass doors of a shopping mall in Nanjing featuring the words: “Happy 2024.”
The vlogger claimed that what appeared to be innocent New Year decorations were, in fact, nationalistic Japanese motifs since the red circles resembled the rising red sun in Japan’s national flag.
“This is Nanjing, not Tokyo! Why are you putting up junk like this?” he snarled at a manager at the mall.
Local police subsequently got involved and ordered staff at the mall to take down the decorations and gave the mall’s management an official warning.
“It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” 33-year-old noodle shop owner Alice Lu from Shanghai told Al Jazeera.
“If red circles are not allowed then there is no end to the things that must be removed,” Lu said.
Red souvenir plates with images of China’s Mao Zedong (right) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) in Beijing, China in 2017 [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]
Following the standard set by the local police in Nanjing, users on Chinese social media were quick to highlight the absurdity of all the red circular objects that would need to be banned, including the logo of China’s telecommunications giant Huawei, posters of China’s first Communist leader, Mao Zedong, featuring a rising sun in the background, and even traffic lights.
The fiasco drew in China’s state-run CCTV which chastised the vlogger in an article on its Weibo account, calling his actions “detrimental to individuals, companies and society as a whole”.
Shaoyu Yuan, a scholar of Chinese studies at Rutger’s University in the United States, said CCTV’s comments demonstrated an attempt by the Chinese government to maintain state control over the narrative surrounding nationalism.
“They want to ensure that nationalism serves as a unifying force rather than being misused,” Yuan told Al Jazeera.
The logo of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies is pictured next to a statue on top of a building in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 2021 [Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters]
Steering patriotism
Under the rule of Chinese President Xi Jinping, fervent patriotic sentiment has been encouraged among the public for years.
Xi said in June that “love of our country, the feeling of devotion and sense of attachment to our motherland is a duty and responsibility of every Chinese”, and that “the essence of patriotism is loving the country, the Party and socialism all at the same time”.
During Xi’s presidency, that patriotic fervour has been projected outward from China by its “wolf warrior” diplomats, including former foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian who infamously floated the idea that the US military was responsible for the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan.
Zhao also posted a fabricated image depicting an Australian soldier holding a bloody knife to the throat of an Afghan child in 2020, at a time when relations between Australia and China were in free fall.
While the CCP promotes its own version of patriotism, it also moderates nationalistic output at times, too.
Incessant bashing of the US online is a common pastime among active Chinese nationalists. But leading up to a highly anticipated summit between President Xi and US President Joe Biden in November, China’s media and nationalist commentators suddenly dialled down their anti-US rhetoric.
Beijing adjusts the volume on nationalistic rhetoric to serve its interests, according to Yuan, engaging in a balancing act of patriotic sentiment when necessary.
“While nationalism is encouraged as a means of fostering a strong national identity and loyalty, its excesses can lead to extremism and undermine international diplomacy, social harmony and public order,” Yuan said.
Nationalism turns violent
Lu from Shanghai said the Nanjing incident was an example of how the promotion of intense patriotic feelings in China has led to a toxic environment – particularly when it comes to Japan-related topics.
“It is a bit scary actually how anti-Japanese feelings can make some people react in China,” she said.
Chinese modern nationalism directed at Japan is deeply influenced by historical conflicts, most notably the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War during World War II, Yuan said.
“These have left a lasting imprint on the Chinese collective memory, fuelling sentiments of resentment and vigilance towards Japan,” he said.
Anti-Japanese sentiment was on display in 2022 when a known cosplayer was approached by police in Suzhou, a city not far from Shanghai, as she was taking pictures of herself on the street wearing a Japanese kimono. Before being taken away, a police officer was recorded shouting at the woman: “If you came here wearing hanfu (traditional Chinese clothing), I wouldn’t say this, but you are wearing a kimono as a Chinese. You are Chinese!”
A few days after the arrest, CCTV launched a social media topic promoting the wearing of hanfu-style clothing.
A protester holding a banner shouts slogans during an anti-Japan protest over disputed islands called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, outside the Japanese Ito Yokado shopping mall at Chunxi Road business area in Chengdu in 2010 [Jason Lee/Reuters]
The Suzhou incident pales in comparison, however, to August 2012 when a dispute in the East China Sea over control of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, which are administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, led to large anti-Japanese protests across urban China.
While protests are often swiftly broken up by the Chinese authorities, the anti-Japanese demonstrations in several cities saw no interference, and from there they turned increasingly violent.
In the central Chinese city of Xi’an, a Chinese man in a Japanese car was pulled out of his vehicle and severely beaten, sustaining life-changing injuries.
The government-controlled People’s Daily subsequently said in an editorial that it did not condone the violence, but attempted to explain it as a sign of Chinese people’s patriotism.
By the time police intervened and restored order at the end of September, Japanese shops, companies and restaurants had been vandalised and China-Japan relations were bruised.
Sales representative Simon Wan, 36, remembers the demonstrations in Beijing devolving into riots at that time.
“From our apartment window, we saw people smash my father’s Toyota (a Japanese car brand) which was parked on the street below,” he told Al Jazeera.
“My family and me stayed indoors most of the time those days to avoid trouble. It was quite frightening.”
Wan believes that the government does not want to see a repeat of the anti-Japan riots in 2012.
“So, I think they reacted to the nationalistic vlogger in Nanjing because they wanted to avoid any kind of escalation,” he said.
When ultranationalist fervour leads to property damage or becomes counterproductive to China’s diplomatic goals, it goes too far, according to Yuan, at which point the Chinese authorities will seek to contain it – as in Nanjing.
Making patriotism pay
The vlogger in Nanjing was not just chastised for being too nationalistic, however. He was pilloried for using patriotism to turn a profit from his video blogs.
“Patriotism is not a business,” CCTV stated in its rebuke of the vlogger.
But, patriotism can in fact be a lucrative business for many nationalistic bloggers and vloggers on Chinese social media.
According to Yuan, there are many ways to monetise patriotism for people such as Hu Xijin, a public figure and commentator who has leveraged his nationalistic stance to amass significant followings on social media.
“This business aspect of patriotism involves not only direct profits from social media platforms through advertisements and sponsored content but also endorsements and partnerships with brands that wish to align themselves with patriotic sentiments,” he said.
Chinese social media accounts with more than a million followers can earn their owners a few hundred thousand dollars a year, while nationalistic commentators such as Hu Xijin have tens of millions of followers. But as the vlogger in Nanjing discovered, the attention garnered by nationalistic tropes does not guarantee fame and fortune, and can instead lead to infamy and misfortune.
The logo of Chinese social media app Weibo is seen on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken on December 7, 2021 [ Florence Lo/Illustration /Reuters]
In 2022, blogger Sima Nan had his social media accounts across Chinese platforms blocked after he engaged in a war of words with China’s tech firm Lenovo during which time it was revealed that he was a homeowner in the US state of California, despite his overt anti-Americanism.
Another nationalist, Kong Qingdong, was banned from Weibo in 2022 for undisclosed reasons. Kong was also temporarily banned in 2012 after he had sparked a public outcry when he referred to Hongkongers as “dogs” and other slurs.
“Navigating the waters of nationalistic content creation in China can be as perilous as it is profitable,” Yuan said.
“While the Chinese government often supports and promotes nationalistic sentiment that aligns with its policies and image, there are red lines that cannot be crossed, and content creators who venture too far, misinterpret the government’s stance or criticise its policies – even under the guise of nationalism – can find themselves facing swift repercussions,” he said.
Adding to the peril, China’s red lines are fluid and can quickly change depending on the situation.
The sudden shift in nationalistic rhetoric leading up to the Biden-Xi summit in November is an example of such a rapid change.
“A nationalistic stance that aligns with the government’s current diplomatic posture might be encouraged at one time but could become problematic if diplomatic priorities shift and the stance is no longer deemed appropriate,” Yuan explained.
Such fluidity is an element of the CCP’s balancing act regarding nationalism.
“It (the CCP) aims to promote a strong sense of national identity and pride among its citizens while avoiding the pitfalls of hypernationalism that could lead to xenophobia, regional tensions, or internal dissent,” Yuan added.
“Additionally, the Chinese government has always sought to prevent any single voice or group from becoming so influential in nationalist discourse that it could challenge the authority of the Communist Party or create factions within society.”
Looking back on his experience during the anti-Japan riots in 2012, Wan, the sales rep from Beijing, said he worried that the government’s promotion of patriotism and tolerance towards nationalism would endanger Chinese society in the long run.
“I think President Xi told American President Biden a few years ago that those who play with fire will get burned,” he said.
“I think that is also the case for anyone in China that plays too much with the flames of nationalism.”
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 last week made history by hitting its highest level in nearly 35 years.
Japan’s stock market has hit a new high after bursting past its 1989 peak last week following decades of stagnation.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose nearly 0.7 percent in morning trading on Monday, extending a rally that has made Japanese stocks some of the hottest buys of the past year.
Major gainers included Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo.
On Thursday, the Nikkei passed its all-time high of 38,915.8, reached in 1989 as Japan’s economy was on the precipice of an asset crash that set in motion several “lost decades” of economic stagnation.
The Nikkei gained 28.2 percent throughout the whole of 2023, well ahead of the S&P500, which itself enjoyed a bumper year.
Foreign cash has poured into Japanese stocks as investors take advantage of the cheap yen and corporate governance reforms that have boosted shareholder returns.
Japan’s overall economy, however, has continued to struggle with anaemic growth amid structural challenges that include a shrinking population and rigid labour force.
The Japanese economy officially entered recession earlier this month, relinquishing its place as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany.
Elsewhere, other Asian markets on Monday fell.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the Shanghai Composite both dipped 0.7 percent, while South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.8 percent.
Japan said it will give TSMC up to 732 billion yen ($4.86 billion) more in subsidies to help it build a second chip fabrication plant as the Taiwanese company on Saturday marked the opening of its first Japanese factory.
TSMC’s decision to build chips in Japan has become a key component of Tokyo’s push to revive advanced semiconductor manufacturing and harden its industrial supply chains against disruptions as tensions with neighbouring China grow.
“The chips will be more advanced than the first factory and can be used for AI and autonomous driving, and will ensure we have stable supply of semiconductors in Japan,” Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Ken Saito told reporters after attending a ceremony for the opening of the first factory in Kumamoto on Japan’s Kyushu island, hosted by TSMC’s founder Morris Chang.
The latest financial commitment, which will add to money given to the world’s biggest chipmaker for its first factory, could push taxpayer-funded subsidies for TSMC beyond 1 trillion yen.
TSMC, which is also expanding in the U.S. and Germany, plans to ramp up to mass production in Japan before the end of the year. Total investment in the venture, including a second plant, will exceed more than $20 billion, according to the Taiwanese company.
When completed, monthly capacity across the two factories will exceed 100,000 12-inch wafers that TSMC will supply to technology firms and carmakers including Sony and Toyota Motor.
Japan is also investing in a homegrown chip venture, Rapidus, which is partnering with IBM <IBM.N> and Imec, a European chip research organisation, in a bid to mass produce cutting-edge chips on the northern island of Hokkaido from 2027.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Shmyhal says delays in providing long-range artillery, missile equipment is ‘main danger for us on the battlefield’.
Ukraine needs long-range missiles and other ammunition to repel Russian troops, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said, as the country nears its third year of war amid battle losses and shrinking foreign aid.
Speaking during a visit to Japan on Tuesday, Shmyhal said Ukraine has modern equipment and trained soldiers and is fighting at NATO standards, but the country needs more long-range missiles for air defence against Russia on the front line.
“Unfortunately, now they prevail in the air and unfortunately this leads to some consequences from the front line, but I should say that we have no refuses from our partners to supply military equipment to Ukraine,” he said.
Shmyhal’s comments came as ammunition shortages and limited manpower are causing Ukraine some serious losses on the battlefield.
On Sunday, Russian troops captured Avdiivka, a key hub city to access the industrial Donbas region, marking their biggest success since the fall of Bakhmut in May.
But support from Western powers has been facing pushback over growing costs, while lawmakers in Washington continued to wrangle over a military aid package for Kyiv.
Should the $95bn foreign aid package survive a vote in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, US media reports suggest that President Joe Biden is considering including long-range ballistic missiles. These are weapons with a longer reach compared with the medium-range missiles sent so far by the United States. They would allow Ukraine to hit inside the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula.
The US has until now provided Ukraine with about $111bn, largely in weapons but also equipment and humanitarian assistance.
When Ukraine begins fielding F-16 fighter jets later this year, “we will balance the situation on the battlefield and it will be much easier for us”, Shmyhal said. But currently, with the ongoing shortage of long-range artillery and missile equipment, “if it will be stopped, if it will be delayed, this is the main danger for us on the battlefield”.
On Tuesday, Sweden said it would give $682m worth of military equipment to Ukraine.
“The reason we are continuing to support Ukraine is a matter of humanity and decency. Russia started an illegal, unprovoked and indefensible war,” Defence Minister Pal Jonson told a news conference.
Shmyhal was in Tokyo to meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida whose country hopes to build momentum for global support for Ukraine as the war drags on and attention has been diverted to the conflict in Gaza.
Japan has focused on reconstruction aid, in part due to constitutional restraints on providing lethal weapons.
The previous day, Kishida promised a long-term commitment to Ukraine’s reconstruction at a conference focused on economic growth.
The 47-year-old critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin died on Friday in a remote prison colony in Russia under circumstances that remain murky. Navalny’s death prompted global outrage, with many Western leaders, including Biden, blaming Putin.
“We are fighting for democratic values for all the democratic world, this is an existential war of democracy against autocracy,” Shmyhal said on Tuesday during the news conference in Tokyo.
Germany, Lithuania and Sweden have also called for new penalties on Moscow during a meeting of the European Union’s top diplomats.
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