Diet passes economic security bill

A nonbinding resolution was added to the bill stating that the independence of business activities shall be respected.

Excellent misdirection again by Kyodo.

Public funds being handed out to private businesses whose shareholders will reap all the profits is not the issue.

The businesses are concerned this largesse will come with some strings attached and they may have to alter their course of operation, so the government has to assure them: Don't worry! These are gifts from the taxpayers!

this is good. in a world where countries rely more on statecraft (trade restrictions, sanctions, cyber attacks, boycotts, etc.), this is, I think, a move that will insulate Japan from skullduggery. On the flipside, I see other countries criticizing this as a protectionist move and will likely make their own similar laws, essentially countries building up economic walls against each other.

This may lock Japan out of international talent. Some folk will not want to work within the restrictions, whilst others will be excluded simply because of where they were born. And there will be reciprocation by other nations, so stuff will have to be done multiple times in multiple nations rather than once and globally shared. This sort of thing also reduces the chances of having global standards, which is the easiest way to wreck the internet.

Incidentally, 'to get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application'. https://www.wipo.int/patents/en/faq_patents.html

A lot to unpack here...

The four pillars of the new law include strengthening supply chains to stably procure semiconductors and other vital products as well as facilitating the development of artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge technologies through public-private cooperation.

Makes sense looking back at the last 2 years (COVID, regional tensions, international destabilization, etc), but it sounds like the government will tell private companies how to run their businesses which:

.is not their (i.e. the government's) business

.they (the gov.) is not likely to have the skill / knowledge to do anyway

The results being that:

...businesses remain concerned about the ambiguity and the government's increased interference with their activities.

Exactly.

In the public-private cooperation area, an association will be set up for each research field, such as AI, and government-backed think tanks will provide information on overseas development.

Also, the "public-private cooperation" makes it sound like public money will (again) be channelled to the private sector to make up for the costs. It could also be considered subsidizing which this: "The government will designate goods such as chips, pharmaceutical products and rare minerals as critical items to be closely monitored and for which it will financially support suppliers to help them stably procure them." seems to heavily imply...

In short: in the best case, we're facing a very thin line to walk. In the worse case, it looks like we're opening a can of worms...

They also include making certain patents related to sensitive technologies nonpublic and having the government screen equipment that infrastructure operators in such sectors as telecommunication and transportation plan to install to mitigate vulnerability to cyberattacks and other threats.

While the law calls for the government's support in the private sector, it also stipulates imprisonment of up to two years or a maximum fine of 1 million yen ($7,670) for those who leak undisclosed patent information.

Again, "making certain patents related to sensitive technologies nonpublic " and undisclosed patent infringements leaking becoming illegal makes sense but...now? In 2022? Pretty late to the party, me thinks?

(Also, a 1 Mio JPY fine for leaking what may be patents worth billions? You serious?)

...having the government screen equipment that infrastructure operators in such sectors as telecommunication and transportation plan to install to mitigate vulnerability to cyberattacks and other threats.

Again, sounds nice, but who exactly in the government has the skills to run such assessment? When they tried to regulate the cryptocurrency market 3-5 years ago did ultimately the J-gov throw it back to the industry operators asking them to "self-regulate" (which was the initial problem!!), as they (the gov.) proved to be clueless at understanding the industry and coming up with a regulation. Of course, they did set up the so-called "Digital Agency" recently, but said agency completely disappeared from the news since then and its sole function up to now is to prep up the failed MyNumber-scheme, so...

In the public-private cooperation area, an association will be set up for each research field, such as AI, and government-backed think tanks will provide information on overseas development.

Yeah, the "associations" the J-gov loves so much. Up to now did the J-gov provide laws (with some pretty accommodating and / or lacking teeth) and public money-funded support while the corporations provided back (non-traceable) money and perks. We've seen that for too long.

Also, "government-backed think tanks" which are generally landing spots for out-of-their-depths old geezers and made up of clueless lawmakers...At best, it looks like government ressources will be use to do some of the industries work (..."will provide information on overseas development") which again, sounds like subsidizing the industries.

Overall, it seems like the "lawmakers" are trying to realign the scheme seeing "discreet" money being channelled back to them from Japan Inc 1.0 to Japan Inc 2.0.

Essentially, while tacking the above issues does makes sense, the problem being how the J-gov has been going around to do similar things in the past...So, not holding my breath...