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Paper short abstract:

This paper aims at tracing implementation of economic statecraft by the Abe, Suga and Kishida administrations in recent years. It analyzes legislation of economic security law, promotion of semi-conductor industry and expansion of financial resources for research by the three administrations.

Paper long abstract:

Evolution of Japanese security policy has attracted much attention (e.g. Chijiwa 2022, Green 2022, Miyagi 2016, Oros 2017, Smith 2019, Takenaka 2022). The existing literature demonstrate how Japanese adminsitrations have gradually expanded range of security policies dispatch of the SDF abroad, the excerise of the right of collective defense and security cooperation with other countries than the US.

Since 2020 the Japanese administrations have begun to formulate economic security policy in earnest, expanding the scope of security policy to the field of econony. There are several preliminary pieces of reseaerch on Japanese economic state craft (e.g. Kitamura 2022, Kokubun 2020). While Kitamura provides brief explanaiton of economic security legislation of 2020,, these pieces of research provide basic information as regard to economic statecraft and do not discuss why and how Japanese administrations have formulated economic statecraft in recent years.

This paper aims at tracing formation and implementation of economic statecraft by the Japanese administrations in recent years. More concretely, it explains three policies pursued by the recent administrations to enhance Japanese security in the field of economy.

First, it demonstrates that the Abe, the Suga and the Kishida administrations has provided legal foundation to enhance Japanese security in the field of economy by preparing "Economic Security" legislation. Second, it explores how the three administrations have revitalized industrial policy to revive semi-conductor industry. They invited to Taiwan's TSMC to set up a new semi-conductor factory in Japan. They have also cooperated with the industrial sector to set up a new private company to start production of high-end logic semi-conductors. Third, they have implemented various policies to increase the size of financial resources spent on research and development.

Japan has been reluctant to employ industrial policy since 1990s. This paper sheds new light on Japanese policy in the field of economy to demonstrate that Japan in fact revitalized industrial policy as a mean of economic statecraft.