NPI launched the Economic Security Project and has conducted various activities within this research theme. We were pleased to invite Matthew P. Goodman, Senior Vice President for Economics, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a major think tank in the United States, and Matsuo Takehiko, Director General, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), as lecturers for the special seminar on "Economic Security and International Economic Order." This seminar is the first concrete cooperation project since the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CSIS and NPI in November 2022 to strengthen cooperation in the field of economic security.

In his opening remarks, NPI Vice Chairman Nakasone Hirofumi, who took the podium on behalf of NPI Chairman Aso Taro, recognized the importance of future discussions on economic security, including how to deter "economic coercion" and stabilize the international economic order, and how to manage foreign investment from the perspective of protecting sensitive technological information.

Following that, Matthew P. Goodman, Senior Vice President, CSIS, introduced the "three pillars" that are important for understanding economic security, namely "Investing in Domestic Foundations," "Targeted Defensive Measures," and "Upholding the Rules-Based Order," and compared and analyzed the current economic security policy approaches of the United States and Japan, and pointed out the potential for future Japan-U.S. cooperation.

In his lecture entitled "Toward a Balance between Economic Security and a Rules-Based International Trade Order," Matsuo Takehiko, Director General, the Trade Policy Bureau, METI, outlined the importance of economic security, its background, and Japan's policy initiatives, and gave his personal views on how cooperation toward a rules-based international order should be from a trade policy field perspective.

Following these lectures, NPI Senior Research Fellow Shiraishi Shigeaki, General Manager for Economic Security Project, moderated a panel discussion in which he and the two lecturers discussed a wide range of topics, including the definition and scope of like-minded countries, the future of the U.S.-China confrontation and the international situation surrounding China, the state of WTO reform, efforts to strengthen supply chains, including in the semiconductor industry, and the need to discuss how to deal with economic coercion ahead of the May 2023 summit.

Moderator:

Shiraishi Shigeaki, NPI Senior Research Fellow; General Manager for Economic Security Project

Lecturers:

Matthew P. Goodman, Senior Vice President for Economics, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

Matsuo Takehiko, Director General, Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)