The Yomiuri Shimbun and The Japan News
Government officials and experts from around the world discussed economic security on Monday at the inaugural Tokyo Economic Security Forum, hosted by the Japanese government in Tokyo.
Four keynote speakers -- Japanese and U.K. ministers and a representative of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) -- spoke about economic security from various perspectives at the opening sessions. Four panel discussions followed, with themes such as critical mineral supply chains and national security.
The Forum is the centerpiece of the Economic Security Global Forum Weeks, a series of events being held for the first time to discuss various topics related to economic security.
Stronger partnerships sought
Details of Japan's plans to establish new bodies related to economic security were revealed at the opening session, with calls for stronger partnerships and collaboration.
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Ryosei Akazawa revealed in a video message that the government plans to establish a public-private council.
"Strengthening supply chains requires unified public-private efforts," Akazawa said at the forum. "(The public-private council) is a framework to share adequate information between the public and private sectors while ensuring confidentiality."
Akazawa also stressed the importance of bolstering Japan's strategic independence and ensuring "strategic indispensability," in which Japanese products or technologies are an indispensable part of the international industrial system, in order to strengthen economic security.
To achieve these strategic goals, he described strengthening supply chains, especially for critical minerals, as "urgent measures to be taken." This was also true, Akazawa said, of diversifying supply sources and increasing national stockpiling, among other steps.
Japan's economic security minister Kimi Onoda said in a video message that the government envisions creating a think tank on economic security within the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry by fiscal 2026.
"In this most severe and complex security environment since the postwar period, the National Security Secretariat must serve as the command center and conduct analysis and policy proposals with a sense of urgency," Onoda said.
The envisioned think tank will conduct research and make policy proposals in response to government requests. It will analyze supply chains for critical minerals and other resources, and identify vulnerabilities in such networks, as well as create risk scenarios for infrastructure, share them with both the public and private sectors, and utilize them for tabletop exercises.
Seema Malhotra, the U.K. parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Indo-Pacific, emphasized that the Japan-U.K. partnership stood for "a free and open Indo-Pacific economic prosperity and security for our peoples and our nations." Because "the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific are indivisible," she argued it is not possible to "confine such challenges to one part of the globe."
As the "access to resources is being contested like never before and norms that liberal developed countries like the U.K. and Japan have depended on for decades are being challenged, nowhere is this clearer than in growing risks to our shared economic security," Malhotra warned that "when supply chains are too dependent on a few resources, one disruption can throw entire industries."
As for the Japan-U.K. partnership, she said the relationship would consist of "tangible cooperation and ... projects which can strengthen our most strategic sectors ... and resilience to economic shocks," through more investment and closer cooperation to strengthen our economic security.
Yoshinobu Tsutsui, chairman of Keidanren, appeared last. Tsutsui emphasized the significance of partnership between the private sector and the government, as well as cooperation between like-minded countries.
Because the concept of economic security overlaps economy and security, he said "constant communication and collaboration are necessary."
Tsutsui commended the economic policies of the government, saying that they "reflect the opinions of business communities in Japan," as they are "feasible based on the reality of companies' economic activities but not too restrictive."
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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.
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December 15, 2025 07:25 ET (12:25 GMT)
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