Takahiro Miyao's Radio Institute of Global Communications: No. 10, August 1, 2004

Takahiro MIYAO (Professor, GLOCOM)

Partial transcript and translation from Prof. Miyao's Radio Program, posted here with permission of Radio Nikkei

Takahiro Miyao's Radio Institute of Global Communications: No. 10
Radio Nikkei daiichi hoso ; BS Radio Nikkei 300 ch.
Broadcast time:	August 1 (Sunday) 19:00-19:30
Recording place:	Recorded in Radio Nikkei's Studio
Program:	1. Introduction 2. Virtual Discussion 3. Trend Research 4. Concluding Remarks
Audio:	Radio Program  (Windows Media Player) (Mainly in Japanese but some parts in English) Asia Station Web site (in Japanese)

Introduction

Hello, everyone. I came back from California a couple of weeks ago, and have been trying to survive the heat wave since then. Today, I will have a guest who is a China specialist and ask him about China's current situation and its future prospects, because everyone knows that Japan's economy depends heavily on China's development. Will China continue to grow as rapidly as before? Or is the Chinese government hitting a break on the economy to avoid overheating. Is China going to be soft-landing successfully? We will ask these important questions to our today's guest later. So please stay tuned.

Virtual Discussion

Today, I will take up a very important article written by Professor Takeshi Sasaki, President of the University of Tokyo, entitled, "Political Agenda after the Upper House Election - Need to Show a Blueprint of the Government for the 21st Century."

In this aricle, Professor Sasaki says that Koizumi reforms should be closely related to the reexamination of the role of the government, and the redefining the roles and functions of the government is the most significant challenge for today's Japanese politics. So far, Koizumi has been dealing with the reform of traditional sectors by relying on private market forces, emphasizing privatization, but that is not enough. What should be done is to contemplate a new form of government for the new century. The real crisis is the fact that policymakers, vested with the power of running the government, are unable to deliver an affirmative message on the role of the government. The new objectives of the government include constitutional amendment, the pension system reform, etc. In conclusion, Japan's politics could be developed into something more interesting and remarkable, depending on whether the Koizumi regime would simply serve the function to terminate the ancient regime, or would be able to bring out the power and strength to tackle fundamental issues concerning Japan, such as constitutional amendment.

Trend Research

Today we have a guest, Dr. Rene Duignan, who is an economic researcher at the Central Bank of Italy-Tokyo Office, and is teaching as a Business and Economics lecturer at Aoyama Gakuin University. We will ask him the following questions:

1. What is your basic stance toward China? Do you think China is a threat to Japan and the global economy, or is it a growth engine for Japan and the global economy?

2. Many people are now talking about the Asian Economic Community a la EU. But given historical and ideological differences between Japan and China, it should not be easy to form any kind of community. What is your view on this issue?

3. These days the Japanese economy is being squeezed between China and the U.S. in many ways. Now both the U.S. economy and the Chinese economy seem to be slowing down, what kind of impacts do you anticipate on the Japanese economy in the near future?

4. Do you think the soft-landing of the Chinese economy is possible or likely?

5. What is your future prospect for China-Japan relations? Do you have any advice for the Japanese government or business in this regard?

(Interview with Mr. Duignan)

Closing Remarks

If you have any comment on today's program, please contact us through our Radio Nikkei hompage (www.radionikkei.jp/joho). Actually you can hear our past broadcast program on our homepage by clicking the "on-demand" section in the upper righthand corner. I hope you enjoyed today's program. Our next program will be on the first Sunday in September, that is, September 5. I hope the weather will become a little cooler and better by then. In the meantime, please take care of yourself, and see you in September.