Technology restrictions mean that China and Japan "dance with beauty" to harm others and themselves

　　The "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" recently reported that the Japanese government is tightening entry screening for foreign researchers and students.

Documents necessary to stay in Japan will include overseas travel experience, source of funds during your stay in Japan, etc.

The purpose of this move is to confirm whether it is possible for the relevant personnel to bring high-level scientific research results or technologies overseas before they enter Japan.

　　In recent years, Japan's restrictions on foreign researchers and students have been tightened, and Japan's "dancing with beauty" has increasingly appeared in the field of economics and technology.

Experts pointed out that the relevant entry inspection does not meet Japan's core needs to promote technological development, and the technological blockade does not meet Japan's economic development interests.

Japan's so-called technology blockade in order to cater to the United States is actually an act of harming itself and others.

　　Tech restrictions mean China

　　According to the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun", strict censorship has begun in 2021, mainly targeting those who have so-called "sensitive" information.

These people need to fill in not only travel history and funding sources, but also past published papers or work and life experience in their home country.

About 150,000 foreigners will enter Japan in 2021, of which only 89 are researchers who have obtained residency status.

On June 1 this year, the Japanese government raised the daily limit on the number of people entering Japan to 20,000. It is expected that the number of overseas researchers will also increase accordingly, and the coverage of entry screening measures will also be wider.

　　According to Japanese media reports, the Japanese government believes that important technologies may flow to China and other countries through overseas students.

The Asahi Shimbun previously reported that the Japanese intelligence agency, the Public Security Investigation Department, claimed in a report that "when the content of Sino-Japanese academic exchanges can be used in the military field, academic exchanges may become the basis for the enhancement of the performance of China's weapons and equipment."

　　Tightening restrictions on foreign researchers and students are seen as part of Japan's policy of strengthening "economic security".

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida takes "economic security" as one of his signature policies.

In May 2021, the Japanese Senate passed the "Economic Security Promotion Act". The bill includes four major contents: strengthening supply chain resilience, strengthening critical infrastructure review, non-disclosure of sensitive patents, and government-private collaboration to strengthen cutting-edge technology research and development. Phased implementation began.

　　Prior to this, Japan had cooperated with the United States many times in the field of technology, showing a clear intention to target China.

In January 2022, Fumio Kishida held a video call with US President Joe Biden and agreed to set up a Japan-US economic version of the "2+2" meeting mechanism to strengthen cooperation in supply chain and technology development, and jointly formulate international standards in the field of cutting-edge technology.

Japan and the United States have discussed establishing a new framework for restricting the export of cutting-edge technologies, covering semiconductor equipment, quantum cryptography, artificial intelligence, etc., and coordinating the participation of European allies of the United States.

　　Following the U.S. intends to benefit

　　Japan's "economic security" policy is closely related to the relevant policies of the United States.

In recent years, the United States has suppressed China in terms of export policies, investment restrictions, technology and trade restrictions. In 2020, the "Foreign Direct Product Rules" will be revised to restrict Huawei; Unilateral sanctions; the so-called "Xinjiang-related Act" enacted in 2022 also contains relevant technology restrictions; the recently announced "2022 Chip and Technology Act" explicitly prohibits companies that accept the support of the Act from expanding advanced chip production in China.

　　Analysts believe that the Biden administration attaches great importance to building a "China-control alliance" in the fields of science and technology, industry and trade. In the name of maintaining economic security, the scope and intensity of the use of "coercive economic strategies" have been greatly expanded, which is reflected in targeting China. economic and trade control, investment regulations and talent visa restrictions.

The Japanese government has stepped up its policies in terms of institutions, policies and legal systems, and "competition, prevention and containment" against China may become a hidden thread running through Japan's "economic security" policy.

　　"Japan's implementation of a series of measures against China in the name of 'economic security' is a manifestation of catering to the United States' China policy. In Japan-US trade relations, the United States occupies a dominant position. Japan hopes to obtain more resources such as the US market, capital, and scientific and technological achievements. Entered the economic 'small circle' of the US allies, so he expressed active support for following the US to engage in technological blockade. Of course, the Japanese government also has its own abacus." Liu Junhong, director of the Globalization Research Center of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, analyzed in an interview with this reporter, "Japan is paying more and more attention to the so-called 'economic security'. On the one hand, Japan is eager to maintain its autonomy in the international market, and to have the dominance and rule-making power in the field of technological leadership; on the other hand, changes in the international economic environment have aggravated Japan. The sense of economic security crisis and the rapid improvement of China's scientific and technological strength have made Japan feel a certain competitive pressure, and Japan believes that China may pose a challenge to its dominance in the industrial division of labor in East Asia."

　　"The hit is in China, the pain is in Japan"

　　According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, experts pointed out that it is now difficult for Japan and the United States to coordinate export controls in practice.

Previously, Japan "reluctantly" followed the United States' tough stance on China by excluding Huawei and ZTE equipment from its own communications network.

Tomoo Marukawa, an expert on Chinese economic issues at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Tokyo in Japan, believes that Fumio Kishida will act cautiously on export control issues.

　　Liu Junhong analyzed that to promote scientific and technological innovation, it is necessary to continuously cultivate new scientific research forces. The deep aging of Japan's society has brought pressure on its scientific and technological innovation development. Actively attracting overseas scientific and technological talents is an important part of Japan's strategy to promote scientific and technological innovation.

From the perspective of scientific and technological development, increasing the entry review of foreign researchers and students may have a negative impact on Japan's attraction of overseas scientific and technological talents, which is not in line with Japan's policy of attracting high-end overseas talents.

　　"From the perspective of scientific and technological strength, from the 1980s to the 1990s, the United States and Japan had a fierce semiconductor dispute. In the face of the rapid development of Japanese semiconductor technology, the United States took strong measures to suppress. Since then, the Japanese semiconductor industry has gradually lost Competitiveness. Today, in the semiconductor field, Japan does not have many key technologies that can really contain and affect China's semiconductor industry. Although Japan has a high tune in terms of technology blockade with the United States, there is not much it can actually do, and what it wants to do Less." Liu Junhong said.

　　The close economic and trade relations between China and Japan also make Japan's technological blockade against China likely to face the dilemma of "injuring the enemy one thousand and self-defeating eight hundred".

Data show that the total bilateral trade volume between China and Japan in 2021 will remain at a high level of US$371.4 billion, and China has been Japan's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years.

After the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership" officially came into effect, China and Japan reached a bilateral tariff concession arrangement for the first time, achieving a historic breakthrough and ushering in a new period of opportunity for the trade between the two countries.

　　Liu Junhong analyzed that China and Japan are closely related to the supply chain and industrial chain in the high-tech field. If Japan blindly follows the United States to block China's technology, Japanese companies may suffer huge impact and loss of profits, which belongs to "hit China, pain in Japan".

Japan is unwilling to harm its vital interests, so it is necessary to weigh the pros and cons and consider carefully in the actual action of the technological blockade against China.

Gaucho