Japan Asks China To Lower Military Spending

Japan’s prime minister has called on China to scale back its military spending on a day when he compared the mounting tension between Asia’s two biggest economies with the rivalry between Britain and Germany before the first world war.

Shinzo Abe used a keynote address to the World Economic Forum in Davos to hail a new dawn for his country and said the fruits of growth in Asia should be used for innovation and investment in human capital rather than weapons.

Earlier, Abe said the frayed relationship between Tokyo and Beijing was similar to the situation in Europe pre-1914. He said a conflict between the two countries would be disastrous, but refused to rule it out. “Trust, not tension, is crucial for peace and prosperity in Asia, and in the rest of the world,” he said. “This can only be achieved through dialogue and the rule of law, and not through force or coercion.

“We must restrain military expansion in Asia, which could otherwise go unchecked. We should create a mechanism for crisis management as well as a communication channel between our armed forces.”

via The Guardian

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.