On November 4, 2023, Professor Toshiro Nishizawa presented his thoughts on “Institutions and Governance for Financing National Development: Japan’s Story” at the parallel session “Institutions and Governance from the Perspective of Modernization” during the Beijing Forum 2023 in Beijing.
Professor Nishizawa’s discussion on institutions and governance for financing national development focused on Japan’s two government-sponsored agencies, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), followed by a comparison with China’s two policy banks, China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Chexim).
Professor Nishizawa drew implications for economic statecraft in his concluding remarks.
“A tradeoff exists between economic and geopolitical goals because the pursuit of geopolitical goals often involves economic costs typically paid by people. Such an outcome may contradict the government’s national development efforts to enhance people’s well-being.
“Institutions and governance for financing national development should serve to find a balance between economic and geopolitical goals to minimize the risk of undermining national development efforts.
“Successful economic achievements change the role of economic statecraft and require updating of the prevailing institutions and governance frameworks.”
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Beijing Forum is an international forum co-sponsored by Peking University, Beijing Municipal Commission of Education, and Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies, with annual events since 2004. The general theme of the Beijing Forum 2023 is “The Harmony of Civilizations and Prosperity for All—Inheritance and Mutual Learning.” Beijing Forum aims to promote the study of humanities and social sciences worldwide.
Please see here for the summary report in Chinese of the parallel session “Institutions and Governance from the Perspective of Modernization.” A translated excerpt from the summary report follows.
The political science parallel session “Institutions and Governance from the Perspective of Modernization” invited eight scholars from the University of Cambridge, the University of Michigan, the University of Queensland, the National University of Singapore, the University of Tokyo, as well as Fudan University, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Peking University for their research presentations. The session was divided into morning and afternoon parts, hosted by Professor Zhang Changdong and Assistant Professor Ma Xiao from the Department of Political Science, School of Government of Peking University.
Professor Toshiro Nishizawa of the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy (GraSPP) presented his thoughts on “Institutions and Governance for Financing National Development: Japan’s Story.” The presentation focused on the two major government institutions in Japan, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), as examples to discuss the “Japanese model” of development and financing under changes in institutions and governance. The uniqueness of this model is that while having independence from the government, the two major institutions actively participate in financing initiatives advocated by the government and achieve a clear division of labor between economic and geopolitical goals. JBIC is dedicated to financing Japanese companies’ overseas businesses, and JICA promotes international cooperation in developing countries. This model has a particular reference significant for China’s financial system construction, that is, how to better balance economic and geopolitical goals.