SNS: Asia Letter: Q1 2020: Japan and the EU

In This Issue
Week of 12/16/2019
Vol. 24 Issue 38

Asia Letter: Q1 2020: Japan and the EU

• EU-Japan Infrastructure Initiative
• Japan, Australia, and US Infrastructure Projects
• Japan’s Industrial Blockchain
• Blockchain in China
• Next-Generation Telecom
• Sony Image Sensors
• Samsung’s Quantum Dot Displays
• Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory
• VW Electric Car Factories in China
• ABB’s New Factory in China
• Siemens Digital Industries Software in China
• Singapore’s New Defense Agreements
• About Scott Foster

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EU-Japan Infrastructure Initiative

“Whether it be a single road or a single port, when the EU and Japan undertake something, we are able to build sustainable, rules-based connectivity from the Indo-Pacific to the Western Balkans and Africa.”

– Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at the'”Communication Connecting Europe and Asia” conference in Brussels – (Reuters, 9/27/19)

Japan has agreed to join the European Union’s effort to provide an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative by establishing an infrastructure development plan “backed by a 60 billion euro ($65.48 billion) EU guarantee fund, development banks and private investors” that, according to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, will be “without mountains of debt,” not dependent “on a single country,” and with high environmental standards. (Ibid.)

The two sides intend to “promote free, open, rules-based, fair, non-discriminatory and predictable regional and international trade and investment, transparent procurement practices, the ensuring of debt sustainability and the high standards of economic, fiscal, financial, social and environmental sustainability” (EURACTIV, 10/2/19).

In parallel, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the European Investment Bank have signed an MOU to expand their cooperation in developing countries.

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