China: weekly update

Paul Cavey

Feb 28, 2022 • 4 min read

East Asia Today

A longer report addressing three misconceptions with Japan's fiscal position. Also, yet another month of very strong export data for Taiwan. The driver is the sale of semiconductors to the US. In November, the bilateral trade surplus with the US reached 25% of Taiwan's GDP.

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Taiwan – the export surge continues

There is little growth in exports outside of tech in general, and semiconductors specifically. But the surge in chip exports is big enough to offset all the weakness in other products. The overall trade surplus eased back in November, but the bilateral surplus with the US reached 25% of Taiwan GDP.

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Japan – overcoming fiscal fear

The supplementary budget looks big, but this year's fiscal deficit is still budgeted to narrow. Gross debt is high, but the government's net liabilities have fallen. Interest rates have risen, but before Takaichi took office, net annual interest payments by the government had fallen to near zero.