. Military Space News .
SUPERPOWERS
Japan reviews aid to new global No. 2 China

by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) March 2, 2011
Japan is reviewing whether to cut its financial aid to China after the population giant overtook the island-nation as the world's number two economy last year, officials said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara has asked his staff to report by June on whether to reduce overseas development assistance (ODA) that started in the late 1970s, foreign ministry officials said.

Japan's ODA -- including grant aid and technical cooperation -- for China was worth about 5.2 billion yen (63 million dollars) in fiscal 2009, the Japanese foreign ministry said.

The two Asian giants next year mark 40 years since the normalisation of diplomatic ties and say they are aiming to deepen what they call a "mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests".

In this context, "it is important to formulate a new configuration of cooperation between Japan and China," said foreign ministry assistant press secretary Takeshi Matsunaga in comments emailed to AFP.

"On the future ODA to China, it is our intention to review the assistance, in the light of the development of China as well as the current situation surrounding ODA, and taking into consideration... bilateral relations as a whole and the purpose of respective cooperation."

Media reports said opinion was divided in Japan on continuing the aid.

Some officials believe providing cash to China is no longer necessary since the country outranks Japan in economic output, Kyodo News reported, quoting unnamed government sources involved in the debate.

Others "fear a possible negative impact from severing such aid as it has helped improve anti-Japanese sentiment among Chinese people and facilitate an environment in which Japanese firms can do business in China", it said.

Some also note, Kyodo said, that there is still room for Japan to exercise influence through aid to China, citing the growing gap between the rich and poor and people's concern over environmental destruction.

The review comes months after Japan and China went through their worst diplomatic row in years, triggered by maritime collisions between a Chinese fishing trawler and Japanese coastguard ships in disputed waters.

Another Japanese foreign ministry spokesman, Satoru Satoh, told AFP: "Japan will not immediately end its ODA to China as there is a basic direction to rebuild and reinforce bilateral ties which were soured last year."

"Japan will continue ODA in areas that are beneficial for both Japan and China. Such areas include global issues that also impact on Japan, such as the environmental problems.

"Japan will also offer technical cooperation in areas regarding (industry) standards and institutional arrangements that are important to Japanese companies operating in China."

By the end of 2009, Japan's accumulative aid to China came to 3.3 trillion yen ($40 billion) of yen loans, which ended in 2007, 154 billion yen of grant aid and 170 billion yen of technical cooperation, the ministry said.







Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


SUPERPOWERS
Mullen Mideast trip shows US 'worry': Iran general
Tehran (AFP) Feb 27, 2011
A trip to the Middle East by the top US military officer Mike Mullen shows the "deep worry" of Washington when it comes to the fate of its forces in the region, the top Iranian general said Sunday. "The hasty trip of Mike Mullen shows the deep worry regarding the fate of American forces stationed in the region," armed forces chief of staff General Hassan Firouzabadi said in a statement. ... read more







SUPERPOWERS
Orbital Launches PTV For Missile Defense Test

Milestone Nears For European Missile Defense Plan

Ukraine's Role In European Missile Defense Not Yet Discussed

Israel successfully tests Arrow anti-missile system

SUPERPOWERS
Second Successful PAC-3 MSE Intercept Flight Test

Russia vows to sell missiles to Syria

Russia proceeds with missile sale to Syria

Enhancing The Protection Of Rotary Aircraft Against Missiles

SUPERPOWERS
Fire Scout Completes First Unmanned Test Flights On Littoral Combat Ship

K-MAX Achieves Numerous Firsts During Recent Demo Flights

Northrop Grumman Awarded UAS Common Architecture Working Group Contract

AeroVironment Develops World's First Fully Operational Life-Size Hummingbird-Like Unmanned Aircraft for DARPA

SUPERPOWERS
LockMart Wins Role On Navy C4ISR Services Contract

ONR Moves A Modular Space Communications Asset Into Unmanned Aircraft For Marines

Northrop Grumman Next-Gen FBCB2 System Approved For Fielding

Boeing To Demonstrate Aviation Command And Control Subsystem For US Marine Corps

SUPERPOWERS
U.S. Navy gets Raytheon targeting system

Raytheon To Provide Advanced Imaging Sensors To The US Navy

Cassidian To Deliver 400 Equipment Units Of Future Soldier System To Bundeswehr

Lockheed Martin Adds More C4ISR Systems Into Airborne Intel Lab

SUPERPOWERS
Indian defense budget gets 'hefty' rise

Russia to lose $4 bn in arms exports to Libya: official

Russia big loser in Arab arms market slump

Bombardier gets jumbo credit deal from China

SUPERPOWERS
China will pursue 'powerful' military: Wen

China's Wen pledges to address 'great resentment'

Japan reviews aid to new global No. 2 China

WikiLeaks-linked US soldier faces new charges

SUPERPOWERS
Scientists Build World's First Anti-Laser

Yale scientists build 'anti-laser'

'Air laser' could find bombs at a distance

ONR Achieves Milestone In Free Electron Laser Program


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement