Japanese opposition lawmakers yesterday voted down Bank of Japan deputy Toshiro Muto as the next central bank chief, defying the government, which refused to look for a new candidate.
The political standoff makes it increasingly likely that the central bank of the world's second-largest economy will be run by a caretaker governor after Toshihiko Fukui steps down next Wednesday.
"For now we aren't thinking of an alternative proposal to the original nomination," Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga told reporters.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura urged the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) to reconsider its resistance to Muto, a former top official at the finance ministry.
The opposition-controlled upper house voted 129 to 106 to reject Muto's nomination, official results showed. The candidate must be approved by both houses of parliament.
`too cozy'
Opposition lawmakers are concerned that Muto is too cozy with the government and that his appointment might damage the central bank's independence.
The upper house also rejected the nomination of Takatoshi Ito -- a University of Tokyo professor and economic adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda -- as one of Muto's two deputies.
However, it approved the appointment of Masaaki Shirakawa, a former executive director at the bank and now a Kyoto University professor, as a deputy governor.
If the row over the central bank governor is not resolved in time, Shirakawa could become temporary governor.
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
RSS