Japan Announces $536 Million In Subsidies To Help Its Companies Leave China

Japan, one of China's largest trading partners, will soon help its companies to move manufacturing and other sensitive operations out of China. This move is part of China's attempts to bring down reliance on manufacturing in China and ensure safe supply chains, Bloomberg reported.

Fifty seven Japanese companies shall get $536 million in government assistance towards helping them move their units to South East Asian countries or other places, a Japanese government release said.

Another announcement indicated that a further thirty companies shall also receive government assistance to move their production units to Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries in the region.

According to Bloomberg, the Japanese government will spend around 70 billion Yen in one round of subsidises. These monies will come from a fund of 243 billion yen that has been set aside early this year in order to help Japanese companies reduce their dependence on Chinese sources.

Japan and Taiwan have been among the first countries to begin a process of helping their business move out of China. The latter had also announced a policy in 2019 towards reducing dependence on China.

While China-Japan economic ties have withstood the test of time over the last few decades the recent pandemic and Chinese aggression in South China Sea dispute have led to the Japanese government enacting systemic measures against China.