Monthly Archives: October 2023

The State of China’s Economics

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China’s economy has been growing rapidly over the past decades and depending on what statistic you measure (particularly nominal GDP) is either the first or second biggest economy in the world behind only the United States. This is in large part to China being the largest goods exporter in the world, with China’s 2022’s exports measuring in the 3 trillions, and second only behind the US in imports. As part of this, China and the US are also each other’s biggest sources of export and importing. (Visual Capitalist, 1)

However China’s growth has been slowing down and doubt has been building within China’s economic sectors. Much of this is due to growing rivalry and discord between China and Western countries that, as seen with the US, are China’s biggest sources of income and purchases. (CSIS, 2)

Because of this growing tension between the West, countries world wide are trying to stop their reliance on China’s market, which may further slow down the Chinese economy, with some sources such as The Financial Times (3), saying it may not be as certain that China will overtake the US as the biggest economy anymore due to several reasons such as China’s strict zero-covid policy and a large amount of debt at the local level. Some have also blamed China’s centralized economy (state owning enterprises) and inefficient government owned companies as part of the problem with The Financial Times stating that China should allow it’s private sector to grow.

El-Erian, M. (2023, September 8). It’s no longer a given that China will become the world’s largest economy. Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/20a14331-d282-4039-97d2-71d777359733

Kennedy, S., Wright, L., Holden, J. L., & Reade, C. (n.d.). Experts react: China’s economic slowdown: Causes and implications. CSIS. https://www.csis.org/analysis/experts-react-chinas-economic-slowdown-causes-and-implications

Du, T. (2023, August 24). Visualizing all of China’s trade partners. Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cp/china-trade-partners/

What to expect from Japan’s economy in 2023

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According to the Japantimes article “What to expect from Japan’s economy in 2023” on January 3, 2023, Japan faced challenges like a historic plunge in the yen’s value against the U.S. dollar and decades-high inflation last year. Although it started global economic activities again which was stopped because the COVID-19 pandemic, there are still two key economic issues in Japan, which is inflation, wage hikes.  

Firstly, Japanese yen plummeted past the ¥150 mark to the U.S. dollar for the first time since 1990 because of the Russia-Ukraine war and the historic slide of the yen. In January last year, core consumer prices excluding volatile fresh food rose a mere 0.2% from a year earlier, but by November that figure had reached a nearly 41-year high of 3.7%. This price hikes promoted the government to take some measures to reduce the impact of it. The government will also provide subsidies to contain the rise of electricity and gas bills. 

 

Secondly, a series of price hikes last year strengthened the calls for wage hikes, which has been one of the structural issues plaguing the Japanese economy. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation called “Rengo” set a goal of pay hike to 5%, which is the highest level in 28 years. For the past seven years, Rengo had demanded increases of around 4%. However, economists say an average 5% raise is unlikely, adding that if labor and management agree to a raise of 3% or more it would be seen as a positive result. In contrast, Daiju Aoki, chief Japan economist at UBS Sumi Trust Wealth Management said, “I think it will be difficult to achieve an over 3% pay hike.” He said it will probably be somewhere around 2.5% to nearly 3%, which would still be the largest hike in years. 

writer: Sakura 

Source:  

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/01/03/business/economy-business/japan-economic-outlook-2023/ 

Multi-Divisional-Form society in Taiwan

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In Taiwan, there’s a huge gap between the wealthy and the poor when it comes to income inequality. According to the Gini coefficient in 2022 was a whopping 0.34. Which indicates there’s an obvious phenomenon of inequality between rich and poor.

One of the reasons for this is capitalism- previous generations owned land through farming, but as the demand for housing increased, governments had to expropriate it. As the land became more valuable, it became so valuable that a family with just a wage could never have the same wealth as a family with an estate. In other words, some people are just lucky to receive higher education or have real estate in the economic “winner’s circle”. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor will gradually widen.

With deeper research on economic inequality, Taiwan has a serious issue with how much should be the minimum wage. The minimum payment was too low to keep up with inflation, especially after the world pandemic in 2019. Moreover, approximately 730,000 Taiwanese workers have left overseas in recent years, mostly young people between the ages of 20 and 40. This has long been a national security crisis.

Overall, Taiwan become a multi-divisional-form society. The Taiwanese government needs to work on how to support the younger generation in housing, wages, and the huge gap between different families. The inequality in the economy didn’t simply just affect the country’s GDP and worldwide reputation but it also became a stressful issue for the citizens of Taiwan.

citation:

  1. Taiwan National Statistics. (September 28, 2023). Gini’s concentration coefficient in Taiwan from 1980 to 2022 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved October 26, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/922574/taiwan-gini-index/
  2. Staff writer, with CNA (2021, August 15). Income inequality growing amid pandemic: DGBAS. Taipei Times.https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2021/08/16/2003762658

Taiwan’s Ambitious Journey Towards Bilingualism Begins with Child Education

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Recognizing the necessity of providing English proficiency to its population, Taiwan has launched an ambitious plan to begin a new policy called the 2030 Bilingual Policy, starting with child education.

Taiwan’s strive for bilingualism is in the belief that a strong command of the English language is a way to connect and receive opportunities to the world. To achieve this, the government has implemented programs for college and high school students then slowly developed for younger ages. Moreover, many private schools have promoted different education systems such as AP, IBDP, or A-level.

Furthermore, the government is hoping to build and immerse students in an English-rich environment to encourage students to learn English naturally, with specialized English teachers from English-speaking countries.

Yet, the challenges and pressure from the teacher, politics, and parents are unavoidable. The ambitious 12-year timeframe set for achieving the Bilingual Nation goal is an ambitious undertaking, raising concerns about feasibility. Finding teachers with stringent qualifications and a dearth of incentives hindering the recruitment and retention of proficient bilingual educators complex challenge.

The government believes this policy in the understanding that English fluency serves as a gateway to a myriad of global opportunities. Taiwan strives to overcome kinds of problems to thrive in increasingly interconnected world. Taiwan’s journey towards bilingualism, while commendable, requires careful consideration of these challenges to ensure its ultimate success.

 

Source: 465. (n.d.). Taiwan’s bilingual 2030 plan. International Trade Administration | Trade.gov. https://www.trade.gov/market-intelligence/taiwans-bilingual-2030-plan

Report on overwork highlights Japan’s work-life balance issues

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According to the Japan times article “Report on overwork highlights Japan’s work-life balance issues,” on Octorber13, 2023, many workers in Japan struggle with lack of sleep because of the hard work. There are more possibilities to suffer from health issues like daytime sleepiness, difficulty concentrating and digestive and intestinal disorders, not to mention mental disorders such as depression and anxiety if the gap between the amount of sleep people want and the amount they get is bigger. Although over 90% of workers feel they need at least six hours of sleep a night, only about half of nearly 10,000 who were surveyed said they are getting that much sleep. In the research, 35.5% said they are sleeping for between five and six hours per night, followed by 35.2% who said they get between six and seven hours of sleep. While another 15.7% said they get between seven and eight hours, and 3.5% said they get even more than that, 10% said they sleep less than five hours. Considering this fact, health ministry officials are trying more employers to absolutely get enough sleep by setting measures such as minimum hours of rest and recuperation between shifts which is called work interval system. However, there is also a problem that the requirement is not legally binding, and the government does not spell out a specific number of hours for the interval. 

Source: Report on overwork highlights Japan’s work-life balance issues – The Japan Times

A Joint Poll Between China and Japan Shows A Declining Relationship

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Every year a poll is done by “Genron NPO” a Japanese think tank comparing responses between Chinese and Japanese respondents who are asked to answer with their opinion or sentiment towards an ongoing world event. Every year they are also asked about their impressions on each other, and the 2023 poll was not good news.
Respondents to the poll could answer either poor or relatively poor impression or good to relatively good. The 2023 poll had Japan’s second
lowest impression of China at 92.2% respondents answer towards having a poor to relatively poor impression towards China, an increase from last year’s 87.3%. The responses in China towards Japan were similarly low at 62.9% reporting a low impression towards Japan. Along with these, respondents were asked the reasoning of their response, and 40.7% of the Japanese respondents said their response was this low to due to anti-Japanese reporting in China. For China’s low impressions towards Japan, the highest selected reasonings were Japan not supporting the One China principle (37.3%), and Japan’s acceptance of US policies.

Respondents were also asked what potential regions of conflict in East Asia, and the most common response of both the Chinese and Japanese responders was the Taiwan Staite at 27% of Japanese responders, and 32.9% of the Chinese responders, a high decrease from last year’s response of 48.6%.

This poll has shown over the years the increasing tensions between the countries of East Asia. However the scope and population size of this poll were relatively small at about 1000 Japanese Respondents and 1500 Chinese respondents, so how this reflects these populations as a whole is unknown.

Source:
“Japan-China Opinion Poll 2023 Mentions the Possibility of Nuclear War for the First Time.” The Genron NPO, 10 Oct. 2023, www.genron-npo.net/en/opinion_polls/archives/5628.html.