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© KYODOKishida pledges to provide Africa with support for food security
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dagon
Japanese workers, caught between stagnant wages, companies hoarding profits and rising tax burdens could also use some food security.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230710/p2a/00m/0na/020000c
Kishida does have an image to maintain so that takes priority I suppose.
BigP
I agree. Let the “belt & road” CCCP feed Kenya.
Meiyouwenti
Is the PM joking? With the food self sufficiency rate of less than 40 percent, Japan is in no position to care for other countries food security. In the event of food import disruptions or global crop failures, Japan will be the first country to starve.
kurisupisu
Kishida bankrolling an entire continent?
Does he think that Japan is a rich country?
Marc Lowe
Africa is lucky to be receiving Japanese food, which is the best in the world. And, how dare China demand debtor nations pay back their loans. Surely, Ruto and Kishida can find away to conquer both hunger and debt in Africa. Tokyo could learn a lot from Nairobi about nutritional self sufficiency and macroeconomics, even though Japan leads the culinary and economic worlds.
TaiwanIsNotChina
The key is to make no new loans without uncovering the secret China debt.
deanzaZZR
Japan has no excess wheat to export to Kenya or any other country. At best Japanese taxpayers can subsidize international wheat purchases by Kenya.
justasking
Japan has a high homeless rate and or struggling to keep a roof over their heads and eat. The Japanese PM should be helping those in Japan before helping others.
Kaowaiinekochanknaw
I think a few posters here are misreading the sutuation.
Japan is suring up it's own food security - i.e. wheat etc (imports from Kenya), in exchange for financial help.
This is in lieu of the higher prices atm from Ukrainian sourced wheat.
Japan is not going to be sending food to Africa.
TokyoLiving
Kishi, pledge to feed your own people FIRST..
David Brent
For how many decades now have rich countries been providing African countries with billions of dollars and all sorts of support for infrastructure and medicines etc.? And they still cannot create functioning countries. You have to start looking at the root cause, as unpleasant as it may be.
dbsaiya
Provide Africa with food or Kenya. There is a tremendous difference in scale and money. Aaah, Kishida the strong leader.
dagon
No need to try to be coyly indirect about it.
It is still happening today in places like the Congo where there is a through-line from the slave trade, Belgian King Leopold corporation genocide to today Western governments and corporations propping up corrupt local strongmen and doing away with any popular "left" leaders who want to nationalize the abundant wealth and using child labor to to extract mineral wealth while returning scant benefits to Africans.
The Chinese as well have taken up where the old colonial Western powers left off.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/cobalt-red-how-blood-congo-powers-our-lives
From the corrupt official Kishida the monies will likely end up in the pockets of corrupt local African officials and never assist the needy.
Beartrap
Really? Please explain:
Government Survey Shows Number of Homeless People in Japan at New Record Low
https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h01323/
??????????????????
Mark
Japan and it's people first, everyone would love to help Africa, South America, South east Asia, the middle east, and so on.... we can all agree on that, but do it AFTER and NOT parallel with taking care of your own.
""Kishida also told Ruto that Japan will assist Kenya in restoring its financial health, which has been strained by loans from China for railway construction and other projects.""
Switching BANKS ain't gonna help, getting to work and being productive will, Japan may help in the short term but it's like putting a bandage on a deep wound, what is the long term plan??
Redemption
This guy promises the moon. But can he deliver?
nik
laughing out loud. How can Japan support food without having any natural resources?
kurisupisu
@Roy
Stephen Chin
Food for a Continent? For how loooooooolong? Is Japan able to feed Japan AND Africa?
kurisupisu
…
No Roy.
I thought that ‘food security’ meant sending warships and troops to safeguard supply lines and fields.
Redemption
New markets for Japanese rice and melons.
kurisupisu
Also, for those in denial and disagreement should click on the link provided by Dagon.
The number of hungry children in Japan is also a worry.
It is such a worry that donations are sought on national television by a charity for those going without food.
Redemption
So the problem is pretty obvious.
isabelle
Ah, yes - China's famously big-hearted "win-win cooperation:" the debt-ridden railway to nowhere:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67101736
https://www.voanews.com/a/kenya-wants-to-renegotiate-loans-for-chinese-built-railway-/6796765.html
I do hope Japan and others can help countries affected by China's predatory BRI to restore their fiscal health, but it needs to be done carefully so that taxpayers' money isn't used to simply pay off loans to China.
And another of the problems is that much of the debt is hidden, so the recipient countries (or even China, probably) don't know the real scale.
https://thediplomat.com/2021/11/chinas-bri-lending-385-billion-in-hidden-debts/
nik
Africa will gobble up all your food supplies. You better think about how you will continue to live and where to get food for your children. Capitalist democratic countries will only give you food if it is profitable for them. This is the essence of democracy: money is the main thing and then attitude.
shogun36
Sorry to burst your bubble there, African people.
But Kishida pledges are nothing but talk.
You would be better off getting help from any other country, Good luck!
Bruce Pennyworth
Having lived in both countries I actually think these two countries have more in common than one would think. Would love to see a relationship grow between the two great nations.
opheliajadefeldt
So Kishida promises to feed Africa, What, all of it?? It might be OK in actually sending food, but do not send just money, because that money will go straight into the pockets of the leaders. Most African countries are corrupt, even more than ours are, and that's saying something.
Jind
Thanks to China for building a railway from Nairobi to Mombasa as I remember how hard it was many years ago driving along that route and some parts were unpaved while growing up as a kid in Kenya.
Kenya is a great country but like most of the world's developing countries is corrupt. The money always go to the politicians and not the people.
Cephus
"The leaders met in Tokyo at a time when Japan is aiming to bolster relations with Kenya facing the Indian Ocean to promote a vision of a "free and open Indo-Pacific," while trying to deepen ties with emerging and developing economies in the "Global South."
It's a great strategy for accessing new markets for both nations.
falseflagsteve
Stop sending money to these basket cases. Spend on social services and look after those in need at home.
elephant200
Cheap talks and lip service is the trademark of Kishida!
kurisupisu
….
Sounds a bit like most countries in the world
Cephus
"So...how many countries in Africa will Japan be providing food assistance to ?"
Food assistance means various thing. It might be in new farming methods, resilient seeds, improved farming tools etc. You just need to look how productive small rice farms are in Japan. To realize how crucial new farming ways are needed in Africa
Mr Kipling
as wheat prices are surging in the wake of the failed sanctions on Russia.
Fixed it.
wallace
Wheat prices are down.
https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/wheat
Mr Kipling
They are now but look at the chart when the failed sanctions went into effect.
a
The boss of Japan right now is Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Aso.
Kishida is a puppet with no authority.
He is like Biden in the US.
Aso's bosses are the capitalists in Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, etc. in Europe.
The US is in worse shape.
The US Federal Reserve is actually owned by European capitalists.
The more dollars they print, the more they owe the European capitalists.
During the Reagan presidency, Reagan's supporters encouraged him to bring back the currency issuing system to the U.S., but he eventually stopped because of the shootings.
The US has been in the hands of European vested interests since the capitalists who opposed the Fed were forced to sink the Titanic.
TaiwanIsNotChina
You could equally argue that Ukraine found ways to export its grain despite Russian criminality.
Hideomi Kuze
On the other hand, LDP government disregards domestic agricultures, they abandon farmers' aging, demand farmers to kill livestock and to dump large amounts of milk.
nik
jackandjillFeb. 9 10:34 am JST
Wheat prices are decreasing. Russia hasn't delivered on all the wheat aid it promised.
The Russian Federation does not owe anything to anyone. So take a shovel yourself and dig the ground. We got used to the fact that Russia gave everything at a low price and sometimes for free. All times have passed; everyone who turned their “ass” to Russia made a big mistake.
Paul
How about providing Japan with debt free financial stability first?
Mr Kipling
TaiwanisChina...
It did... To Europe. And the result was blockades by European farmers.
elephant200
Using food as a bribery and blackmailing method over third world country?
elephant200
There was NO "Debt Trap" ever as accused by China. Only "Exploitation" of every African countries by the West to comply with their hypocrisy, Japan is part of the West!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Yes China is a saint. Unfortunately the complete lack of transparency says otherwise.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Doesn't matter where it goes if it drives down global food prices.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Yes we know that Russia is a disgrace, offering nothing positive to the world. Thanks for confirming.