Posted by Japan's among competing visions of Silk Road on Thu, 29 Jun 2017 18:50 | #

Reconnecting Asia, Mapping Continental Ambitions, “Competing Vsions”:

A geoeconomic contest is underway to shape Asia’s future. Regional powers are putting forward ambitious plans for building roads, railways, pipelines, and other hard infrastructure across the region. Drawing on official sources, CSIS experts developed the maps below to illustrate some of these competing visions. Each map captures, in broad strokes, the major infrastructure priorities of a leading actor. Collectively, these maps preview a competition as wide-ranging as the region itself. As this story unfolds, the collection below will be expanded and updated.

Announced in 2013, China’s “One Belt One Road” (OBOR) initiative drives across the Eurasian landmass in two grand sweeps: the ocean-based 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the overland Silk Road Economic Belt. As Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy effort, OBOR is striking for its opacity as well as its ambition. On the surface, it imagines a future Eurasia where all routes lead to Beijing. As an open-ended framework, however, the initiative is less clear. It combines new and older projects, covers an uncertain geographic scope, and includes efforts to strengthen hard infrastructure, soft infrastructure, and even cultural ties.

Prioritizing east-west connections, Japan’s vision stems from decades of investing in Southeast Asia, where existing infrastructure reflects the needs of Japanese supply chains, especially maintaining access to the sea. Japan is acting swiftly to defend this incumbent advantage, and has boosted funding to expand “high-quality and sustainable infrastructure” in the region through its Partnership for High Quality Infrastructure. Consistent with the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity, Japan is backing a number of new land and maritime corridors that would increase connectivity between the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has also expanded Japan’s diplomatic footprint, becoming the first sitting Japanese leader to visit all five countries of Central Asia.

Posted by Japan's growth streak longest in 11 years on Fri, 18 Aug 2017 10:11 | #

New York Times, 13 Aug 2017:

TOKYO — Japan’s economy grew more strongly than expected in the second quarter, extending the longest streak of uninterrupted growth in 11 years, government data showed on Monday.

And the really good news: Much of the growth was local.

Japan’s government has been trying to spur the economy with a stimulus program known as Abenomics, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The strategy has helped Japan’s exporters but has done little to increase domestic income or spending.

That may be changing.

Spending by Japanese consumers and businesses contributed more to the latest expansion than trade with the rest of the world did, the data showed, in a positive sign for the outlook of the world’s third largest economy, after the United States and China.