ASIANOMICS

🇯🇵 Japan to strengthen screening of foreign investments with US-style panel The Japanese government decided Tuesday to strengthen screening of foreign investments in the country by setting up a cross-ministerial, US-style panel to prevent leakage of critical technologies and intelligence. Through a revision of the foreign exchange and trade law, the government of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi seeks to ensure that it can identify foreign investments considered risky in terms of national economic security. The screening will be conducted when another foreign company acquires a foreign company that already holds shares in a Japanese company. Japanese investors recognized as being under the influence of a foreign government would also be considered "foreign investors," according to the draft. #Japan @asianomics

🇰🇵🇰🇷North Korea to convene new assembly on March 22 to consider constitutional revision North Korea's newly elected Supreme People's Assembly will convene its ​first session on March 22 to deliberate on a ‌constitutional revision and on the implementation of a five-year national policy plan. The assembly legislates and manages policies ​in all areas of government, but its approval is ​only a formality for measures decided by the ruling Workers' ⁠Party, which holds ultimate power. South Korean policy makers and analysts ​have been watching for a constitutional amendment by the North that ​could include specifying South Korea as a separate and hostile state that would be a blow to Seoul's push for dialogue and reconciliation. #NorthKorea#SouthKorea @asianomics

🇹🇼🇺🇸🇨🇳 Taiwan says sale of second package of arms from US is proceeding on schedule Taiwan Defense Minister Wellington Koo on ‌Tuesday said he believed the US' internal review process for the sale of a second package of arms to the island is proceeding on schedule. A major US arms package for Taiwan worth about $14 billion that includes advanced interceptor missiles is ready ​for President Donald Trump's approval and could be signed after his upcoming trip to China. The US, which in December unveiled an $11 billion sale of weapons to Taiwan, has not formally ‌unveiled a ⁠second package. #Taiwan#USA#China @asianomics

🇺🇸🇨🇳Trump seeks to delay meeting with China's Xi by 'a month or so' US President Donald Trump said he is seeking to ​delay a highly anticipated trip to China in early April by about a month because of the Iran war. "We've requested that we ‌delay it a month or so," Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump's requested delay in his scheduled March 31-April 2 trip to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping underscores how the Iran war has upended his foreign policy agenda. It also risks magnifying tensions between Washington and Beijing, as the Mideast ​crisis has joined trade and Taiwan among the spectrum of issues separating the world's two biggest economies. #USA#China @asianomics

🇨🇳🇻🇳 China, Vietnam to conduct joint maritime training Chinese and Vietnamese personnel will carry out a joint naval patrol and training exercise in the Gulf of Tonkin this week, extending a practice that has continued despite long-standing competing maritime claims. The joint maneuvers will take place as part of the China-Vietnam Border Defense Friendship Exchange, which will include medical and cultural exchange events, China’s defense ministry said on Sunday. The joint patrols reflect continued efforts by Beijing and Hanoi to strengthen security cooperation, despite their ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea. #China#Vietnam @asianomics

🇨🇳🇺🇸 China and US trade talks off to a low-key start after first meeting in Paris China and the US ended the first day of trade talks in Paris on Sunday without any major developments. Talks will continue today when the US delegation is set to leave. The Chinese delegation will stay one more day before leaving on Tuesday. The first day of the sixth round of trade talks between the world’s two biggest economies – led by Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent – was rather uneventful for journalists waiting outside the venue, the headquarters of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He and Bessent could be seen leaving the building, but neither delegation made any comment to the gathered media on how the talks went. #China#USA @asianomics

🇯🇵 Japan begins unilateral oil reserve release amid Iran crisis Japan began to release oil from its reserves Monday to alleviate supply concerns that have grown amid the US-Israel war with Iran and stabilize the distribution of petroleum product. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said the release was decided as Japan's crude oil imports are expected to decrease significantly from late March onwards due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Japan held reserves of approximately 470 million barrels of oil, equivalent to 254 days of domestic consumption, of which 146 days' worth were government-owned, 101 days held by the private sector, and the remainder jointly stored by oil-producing countries. #Japan @asianomics

🇹🇼🇨🇳 Taiwan says large-scale Chinese military flights return after unusual absence Taiwan reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities around the island after an unexplained absence of more than two ​weeks that prompted speculation in Taipei as to Beijing's motives. Taiwan's defense ministry, in a daily update on Sunday morning, said ​it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft, concentrated in the ⁠Taiwan Strait, over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many on ​February 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft after saying Beijing was carrying out ​another "joint combat readiness patrol". Officials and experts in Taipei have said reasons for the disappearance of the aircraft could be recalibration of China's pressure campaign ahead ​of US ⁠President Donald Trump's planned visit to Beijing. #Taiwan#China @asianomics

🇯🇵🇦🇺 Trump demands others help secure Strait of Hormuz, Japan and Australia say no plans to send ships Japan and Australia said they were not planning to send navy vessels to the Middle ​East to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, after US President Donald Trump called on allies to create a coalition to reopen the vital waterway. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said her country, constrained by its war-renouncing constitution, has no plan to dispatch naval vessels to escort ships in the ​Middle East. Australia, another ​key Indo-Pacific ally to the US, said it had not been asked and will not send naval ships to assist in reopening the strait either. #Japan#Australia @asianomics

🇨🇳🇮🇷 Ships identify themselves as Chinese around Strait of Hormuz during Iran war to avoid attacks Some commercial ships near or in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf have declared themselves as China-linked since the Iran war began, marine traffic data show, as their operators apparently try to reduce risks of being targeted in attacks. At least eight vessels in or near the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman changed their declared destination signals to short messages such as “CHINA OWNER” or “CHINA OWNER&CREW,” according to data on the ship tracking platform MarineTraffic. The main goal of vessels publicly identifying themselves as ‘Chinese’ while transiting the Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz is primarily to reduce the risk of being attacked rather than to facilitate passage through the strait itself. #China#Iran @asianomics

🇰🇷🇺🇸 South Korea says US V-P Vance welcomes Seoul’s investment Bill South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met US Vice-President J.D. Vance in Washington on March 12, where the two discussed the passage of a special Bill enabling Seoul to implement a US$350 billion investment pledge in the US. Kim told Vance the Bill’s approval in Seoul’s Parliament earlier in the day demonstrated the government’s strong commitment to carrying out the investment agreement reached between the countries’ leaders. In late January, US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on South Korean goods to 25%, saying Seoul’s legislature had yet to enact the trade framework that had capped US levies at 15%. #SouthKorea#USA @asianomics

🇯🇵 Japan PM Takaichi’s health draws concerns ahead of Trump meeting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi returned to her official duties on March 13, a day after she cancelled some engagements because she was feeling unwell. She was advised to rest by doctors after developing cold-like symptoms, ultimately skipping some meetings with local Middle Eastern ambassadors on March 12, according to local media. The reports come less than a week before Takaichi is set to travel to Washington to meet with US President Donald Trump, where the usual show of strong ties and a solid Japan-US partnership could be overshadowed by developments in Iran. The Japanese premier has cultivated a reputation for working so tirelessly that she’s been criticized for forcing aides to attend meetings in the pre-dawn hours of the night. #Japan @asianomics