"Japanese Government Strengthens Pre-Investment Screening Regulations 'Considering China's National Intelligence Law'"

The Japanese government is effectively considering China's National Intelligence Law and is pushing to strengthen pre-investment screening regulations to prevent information leaks by Chinese-invested companies.

Yonhap News

According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 22nd (local time), Japan's Ministry of Finance plans to introduce new provisions in foreign exchange-related laws as early as this spring to classify companies or individuals legally obligated to provide information to foreign governments as "specified foreign investors."

Currently, even if a stake of 1% or more is acquired in listed companies in critical industries such as nuclear power or telecommunications, exemptions such as "non-participation in the board of directors" allow them to be excluded from the pre-screening reporting requirements. However, under the new regulations, specified foreign investors will be required to report without exception.

In 2021, when the Chinese IT giant Tencent invested in the Japanese IT company Rakuten, concerns about security due to information leaks grew in Japan. At that time, Tencent claimed it was a purely financial investment without management involvement and was excluded from the pre-screening requirements.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.