US and Japan Take the Lead in Decentralizing from China

The United States and Japan have taken the lead in accelerating the process of decentralization from China during the pandemic. The CCP virus pandemic has forced all countries across the globe to rethink the risks of having economic trades with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Among these countries, the U.S. and Japan are taking some important measures to accelerate the process of decentralizing from the CCP. Presently, a renowned Japanese brand, Iris Ohyama, may be the very first company to receive subsidies from the Japanese government’s Supply Chain Restructuring Program. They are planning to move the production of non-woven fabric, the raw material for facial masks, from China back to Japan in order to increase the local productivity of facial masks. On April 9, the Japanese government declared that it has $2.2 billion U.S. dollars in funding to assist Japanese companies returning from China and resettling in Japan or other countries in Southeast Asia. On the same day, the Director of the United States of Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, suggested that the U.S. should help pay for the costs related to the relocation of those American companies that want to leave China. Eric Brown, a senior researcher at Hudson Institute, said, “Japan is seriously thinking about how to best position its economic recovery and to bring about the benefits of geopolitics. The United States of American should do the same.” Economist Stephen Moore from The Heritage Foundation expressed, “Many CEO’s and companies are moving forward now without any kind of government assistance because they don’t think China is reliable and trustworthy any longer, and “Made in China” is just not a saler in the United States anymore, and so there are a lot of forces that are moving towards bringing it home “Made in the U.S.A.” In addition to the reassessment of supply chain management, the U.S. Financial Sector is also now re-examining the risks of Chinese companies listed on the stock market. On April 21, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commision, Jay Clayton, the Chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, William Duhnke, and 3 other individuals issued a joint statement warning investors of the financial risks of Chinese companies. Due to the lack of transparency in the financial reports of Chinese companies over the past years, it is very unlikely that the investors will be compensated when things go wrong. Experts believe that this CCP virus pandemic has urged countries to rethink the risks of dealing financially with China and the importance of decentralization with China. Senior Director of The National Interest, Harry Kazianis, said,“As you see more of these supply chains leaving China going back to the U.S., back to other countries, they are going to have less of a reason to say nice things and do nice things for China, and I think you will see things change pretty quickly after that.”