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Since October 2025, Sanae Takaichi has been Prime Minister of Japan. During her investiture speech, the first woman to hold this position in the Far Eastern empire hammered home the need for the country to rearm militarily, but also placed particular emphasis on economic security. She is no novice in this field: from 2022 to 2024, she held the portfolio of Minister of State for Economic Security.
As the an IHEDN fact sheet on this subject, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines economic security as «the ability of a nation to protect and maintain the stability and growth of its economy by enhancing its resilience to both internal and external threats». This is the main subject of study for the Economic Defence and Security (ESD) major at the IHEDN national session, and a sector in which Japan has become particularly innovative.
From 16 to 23 May, students in the DSE major flew to Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe, visiting strategic institutions and companies involved in economic security, such as Otowa Electric Industries, the Riken Center (supercomputers) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Since the early 2020s, the Empire of the Rising Sun has been steadily stepping up its efforts in this area, gradually building a framework for action that links government, business and innovation. The aim is not to close down the economy, but to reduce vulnerabilities deemed critical in a context of technological rivalry and tensions over supply chains. Tokyo is thus seeking to protect its strategic sectors without breaking with its model of open trade.
A number of recent events have prompted it to do so, including a dispute that led China to temporarily halt exports of rare earths in 2010, and successive disruptions to supply chains following the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011, the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the war in Ukraine.
A DEDICATED MINISTRY SINCE 2021
In 2020, the Secretariat for National Security, the equivalent of France's SGDSN, created a unit dedicated to economic security. The following year, a ministry took charge of this sector (a world first), in addition to a council for the promotion of economic security chaired by the Prime Minister.
In 2022, the Japanese parliament passed a law officially called the «Law on the Promotion of National Security through Integrated Economic Measures» and referred to more simply as the «Law on the Promotion of Economic Security». The emphasis is on four key elements:
- the supply of essential raw materials,
- critical infrastructure security,
- the development of cutting-edge technologies,
- the introduction of a system of secret patents.
That same year, 2022, the new national security strategy also emphasised this notion. At the G7 summit in Hiroshima in 2023, the host country urged its partners to adopt the declaration «Economic Resilience and Economic Security».
As soon as she took office last October, Sanae Takaichi announced her intention to publish a renewed national security strategy by the end of 2026, and asked her cabinet to study the possibility of revising the 2022 law.
This economic security strategy, which has been in place since the beginning of the decade, is based on three levers.
THE STATE SUPPORTS THE RELOCATION OF CERTAIN TYPES OF PRODUCTION
The first is regulatory. Japan has tightened controls on foreign investment in sensitive sectors, to prevent outsiders from taking control of assets deemed essential to national sovereignty. This vigilance extends to critical technologies, cyber security and data, which have become resources as strategic as raw materials.
The second lever is industrial. The State supports the relocation or diversification of certain types of production, particularly those linked to semi-conductors, electronic components and rare materials. Public subsidies encourage companies to reduce their dependence on a single supplier, particularly when that supplier is located in an unstable geopolitical zone. This policy aims for resilience rather than total self-sufficiency.
The third lever is diplomatic. Japan is stepping up its partnerships with close allies, in particular the United States, but also with other Indo-Pacific economies and with the European Union and its member states. From 31 March to 2 April, the official visit of French President Emmanuel Macron led to the signing of a Franco-Japanese roadmap on critical minerals.
This strategy aims to secure supplies, share the costs of innovation and build more robust value chains. At the same time, Tokyo is supporting cooperation in the fields of energy, hydrogen and green technologies.
Japan's economic security policy is clearly directed against China, its main trading partner, with which it is heavily dependent, particularly on critical minerals and pharmaceutical products.
But this policy also generates a number of internal and external benefits for the country, as analysed by the IHEDN studies and research department :
- In terms of government effectiveness: centralising action means we can adapt more quickly and improve efficiency.
- Raising awareness: making economic security a political and institutional issue in its own right enables the government to raise awareness of risks and threats among the country's businesses.
- In terms of deterrence: having dedicated organisations and therefore effective response tools can discourage Tokyo's adversaries from taking coercive economic action.
The main challenge over the next few years will be to maintain the coherence of the model while adapting it to changes in the regional and global geopolitical context. Japan must continue to innovate, diversify its dependencies and invest in its strategic capabilities, without losing the advantages of an open economy. It is in this search for balance that the uniqueness of the Japanese approach lies, as well as the fact that it sets an example for other countries.
To find out more
«The Japanese concept of economic security», IHEDN news sheet
